The remarkable Queen & Slim is a romance and a road movie, a film about outlaws on the run, two journeys of self-discovery and a nuanced social commentary. It’s not perfect but it’s close — an urgent, beautiful and socially conscious trip through the American racial psyche in 2019.
Queen & Slim is the feature-film directorial debut from Melina Matsoukas, who has directed episodes of HBO’s Insecure and helmed Beyoncé’s Grammy-winning video Formation. The script is from Emmy-winner Lena Waithe (Netflix’s Master of None) with, bizarrely, an assist from disgraced A Million Little Pieces author James Frey, and a nod to Thelma & Louise.
Daniel Kaluuya of Get Out fame takes Slim from a sad-sack who obeys the rules to a man deeply in love and ready to fight for it.
Jodie Turner-Smith, in her first feature film lead, makes an astonishing debut, stiff and understated when we meet her and evolving into a vulnerable warrior in a leopard minidress. Both are haunted, anxious and guilty. They end the film undaunted.
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