QUEEN & SLIM
STARRING: Daniel Kaluuya, Jodie Turner-Smith
There are disastrous first dates, and then there is the storyline of Queen & Slim, which takes things to a whole new, tragic level. Out for dinner, a couple who met on Tinder realise they’re not well-matched. Were it not for what happens on the way home, they would go their separate ways. But when their car is pulled over, ostensibly for erratic driving, what should be a routine traffic stop turns into a nightmare predicament as the officer is shot and the virtual strangers go on the run together rather than face the likelihood of life in prison.
As “the Black Bonnie and Clyde”, a title given to them on one of their cross-country stops, Kaluuya (Get Out) and model turned actress Turner-Smith bring a quiet desperation to their roles. In an instant, their characters’ lives are turned upside down, and their flight forces them to think on their feet and adapt to their new circumstances. Theirs is less a love story and more a tale of solidarity – two people coming together to save both their lives and forming a profound bond that transcends romance or physical attraction.
The film is also a story informed by both the fact that a disproportionate number of AfricanAmericans have been killed by police and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement. Even though dash cam footage shows exactly what happened, Queen and Slim – their real names aren’t revealed for some time – make the choice to flee because they expect their account of what took place has no chance of being accepted. They exist in a world where, at best, officers shoot first and ask questions later. It’s reasonable to believe they actually have no choice.
Their situation also provokes a response among the African-American community, who rally around the couple – the latest victims of a system stacked against them. While the pair’s race to get out of the country with the authorities closing in is tense enough, these deeper social issues give Queen & Slim more resonance. Just as the couple’s plight becomes bigger than them, so too does the film’s message go beyond what is seen on screen.
(Out now)