The review:
Melina Matsoukas’s debut feature* Queen & Slim gives us a zeitgeist film that has (unfortunately) flown under most people’s radar. Daniel Kaluuya (Slim) and Jodie Turner-Smith** (Queen) begin as a couple on an awkward date, though their fates change when they are pulled over.*** What follows is a lot of different films: road trip, political story, heist, escape, love story and by the final scene the movie will have taken you on a rough and fulfilling journey.****
The verdict: Recommended
Cost: $1.80 via Redbox
Where watched: at home
Consider also watching:
Further sentences:
*If this is any indication of what’s to come, we have a very exciting filmmaker to watch.
**In this very American story, it was interesting to hear the two leads’ British accents during the making-of bonus features.
***Even people who don’t follow the news will recognize that a plot point involving Black people and a traffic stop doesn’t bode well.
****I went in mostly blind to this film. I heard “really good!” and “women director” and didn’t look further. It’s the kind of film where people might dismiss as too sad, but there’s so much life among the sadness, I would suggest you don’t pass it by.
Questions:
- What are your feelings about Queen and Slim being viewed as heros?
- What was your favorite encounter the couple had on their journey?
Favorite IMDB Trivia Item:
According to the writer, the divergent world views of the two protagonists were based on the differences between Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X.
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