Queen & Slim

Divisive, controversial, and thought provoking, Queen & Slim is exactly the type of movie that people who complain about the lack of originality in Hollywood need to see. And for the most part, the movie succeeds at being an immersive crime thriller that never quite stops to take a full breath without rushing you back into more conflict. There are however, specific directing choices that I thought were completely unnecessary and almost repulsive, because the message that was trying to be conveyed was already there in subtext. For some people that style may work, for others Queen & Slim may be too controversial. It's the type of film that I appreciate the craft more than I actually like the movie itself. But it should be seen nonetheless.

7.0/10

Must watch. Not a slick Hollywood production with all the cliches but very good. This movie made me a bit melancholic and also grateful for living in North Europe.

"Queen & Slim" is I think the perfect example of a movie that's greater than the sum of its parts.

There are many individual moments in the film that don't hold up under scrutiny. But when experienced as a whole, the film exerts a kind of poetic power. It's equal parts sorrow and rage at the treatment of African Americans in the United States, and having watched it after the George Floyd murder (even though the film came out before it), it's impossible not to understand the actions and motivations of the Bonnie and Clyde couple at the film's center.

It's certainly overheated and histrionic at times, but these are overheated and histrionic moments we're experiencing in our country right now, and I don't want movies, especially movies about race, to play it safe. I want them to be angry, to scream and shout and swear, to have muscle and teeth, and so the energy blazing off the screen from this movie felt right for the moment.

My favorite scene is the one where Slim comments on how beautiful the countryside of rural America is as they're driving through it, and Queen, who casually glances at a prison work gang in a field made up of all black men that could easily pass for a group of field slaves from the Civil War-era South, replies, "Is it?"

Grade: A-

So well made a movie. Very engaging from the first frame till the end. Fantastic performances by both the protagonists and yes brilliant direction and script. Photography is marvellous too. All in all an Oscar deserving movie.

With the current climate around the world at the moment regarding the George Floyd protests, now seemed like as good a time as any to finally check out 'Queen and Slim'. The opening to this movie is incredible. We meet the characters in a diner, get to know them a little, and then an event takes place after they are pulled over by the police. This entire sequence is exquisite. It's tense, unpredictable and powerful. At this point I thought I was in for a masterpiece of a film. Unfortunately it wasn't able to maintain that momentum and fell apart a little later on, but the film is worthing watching for that opening alone.

Another aspect of the film I loved was the feeling that anything could happen. Nothing felt off the cards in this movie. It could end in any fashion whatsoever across the full range of the spectrum. I love it when films have that going for it. Where this film lets itself is that it becomes a love story and I just didn't buy it for a second. These were two pretty horrendous people who clearly drove each other reasonably crazy, and the film even goes out of its way to show us this, and yet we are supposed to believe that they are the love of each other's lives? No sale on that one sorry.

The film raises a lot of moral debates. Should people who kill police officers be treated as heroes? Is it okay to resist arrest if you don't think the arrest is justified? Is it okay to then go out and rob and steal, simply because you are on the run? Is it okay to treat people who are trying to help you very rudely? People could debate these things for decades to come, and it likely won't be the friendliest of debates which is why I have no interest in partaking in them, but the fact is the movie provides those talking points for people to have. 'Queen and Slim' is a very well made film, that just goes off the rails a little in terms of its characters likability and believability, particularly in the second half. I'd say it is worth a watch, but don't get your hopes up too high after that amazing opening.