Queen & Slim

A powerful socio-political statement disguised as a road-movie

We'd never talked about it, but I figured you knew the rules. If a cop stopped, you didn't run, you didn't talk back, you didn't ever, ever get angry. White people could do that – hell, they could shoot up a church and then ask for Burger King – but not us. We got killed at traffic stops for speeding, for having broken taillights, for knowing our rights.

• Una LaMarche; You in Five Acts (2016)

Protest is telling the truth in public. Sometimes protest is telling the truth to a public that isn't quite ready to h__ear it. Protest is, in its own way, a storytelling. We use our bodies, our words, our art, and our sounds both to tell the truth about the pain that we endure and to demand the justice that we know is possible. It is meant to build and to force a response.

• DeRay Mckesson; On the Other Side of Freedom: The Case for Hope (2018)

Oakland CA, January 1, 2009; 22-year-old Oscar Grant was shot and killed by Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) Officer Johannes Mehserle after being involved in a fight on a train. Mehserle was ultimately found guilty of involuntary manslaughter and not guilty of second-degree murder or voluntary manslaughter. He was sentenced to two years, minus time served, and was released on parole after 11 months.

Santa Rosa CA, October 22, 2013; 13-year-old Andy Lopez was shot and killed by Sonoma County Deputy Sheriff Erick Gelhaus as he carried an airsoft replica of an AK-47. No charges were brought against Gelhaus.

Staten Island NY, July 17, 2014; 44-year-old Eric Garner was allegedly selling single cigarettes illegally and was placed in a chokehold by NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo. Whilst in the hold, Garner said "I can't breathe" 11 times, but Pantaleo only released the hold when Garner passed out. He died an hour later. The medical examiner ruled Garner's death a homicide but a grand jury decided not to indict Pantaleo.

Beavercreek OH, August...

To its credit, 'Queen & Slim' features some pretty stellar performances and great camerawork but has to work against the mammoth influence of its writing and pacing to make something memorable, and ultimately fails. It's a shame because Matsoukas shows promise as a filmmaker and clearly has important things to say, but appears to buckle under the pressure of having to do so.

• Ashley Teresa

Read Ashley's full article... https://www.maketheswitch.com.au/article/review-queen-and-slim-a-worthwhile-tale-with-bumpy-storytelling

Queen & Slim was entertaining overall, and its social messaging that might have turned off viewers of a certain political world view worked for me. It will not make my greatest movie list, but it held my interest. Not because of its theme or message so much, but more for the character depth and development. I liked how the two main characters don't really even like each other (well, her at least) at first but began to grow on each other. Also, except for the fat cop and e dude near the end with the money, there didn't seem to be any two-dimensional characters. They are all given some depth.

Okay, there are some plot threads shared with movies like Bonnie and Clyde and Thelma and Louise, but there are enough differences to make it still worth watching. The soundtrack didn't particularly grab me, but as an older white dude, I am probably not the primary audience intended for that music. I think I might watch it again after some time passes, as I suspect it might be one of those films where you take something new away from it during a second viewing.

The eponymous couple - Daniel Kaluuya and Jodie Turner-Smith have hit it off after their first date and are driving when they are pulled over by a traffic cop. Quite quickly, things spiral out of control with both her and the cop shot - the latter, fatally. Almost immediately, they become Ohio's most wanted and with just about everyone on their tail. What happens next? On the face if it, the storyline is a little contrived to suit the point the film is trying to make: two innocent African Americans shoot bigoted white policeman in "self defence" - but the story actually develops into something less routine and more objective. It uses both of these characters to illustrate excesses in the behaviour of both sides, the stereotypical attitudes that prevail and Turner-Smith is, especially, at the top of her game as the lawyer who's conflicted pretty much from the start as to what ought to be their plan. To turn themselves in for "justice" or to flee assuming they won't get it! It's a romance with a little gritty humour to help humanise a fairly torrid scenario and the supporting effort from Bokeem Woodbine's "Uncle Earl" helps to add a little perspective to the story as it heads to a poignant, though entirely predicable, conclusion that did have shades of "Butch Cassidy..." to it. Subtly, the message of never judging a book by it's cover is quite poignantly made here and the film, though probably half an hour too long, makes the point forcefully.