The Royally Phat Queen and Slim

Queen and Slim is a modern folkloric tale of two people who meet for a first date that turns tragic by its end, compelling the couple to go on the run across the country in a fevered and desperate hope to escape to exoctic lands (even if that is Cuba) in hopes of finding shelter from the storm. The storm comes fairly early on in the film when Queen (Jodie Turner-Smith) and Slim (Daniel Kaluuya), after an awkward first date wind up pulled over by an over anxious police officer who winds up pulling his weapon and ultimately shooting Queen in the leg. Frightened and angry, Slim tackles Officer Reed (Sturgill Simpson) and the fight between them winds up with Slim in possession of Officer Reed’s gun and bang…the story begins.

Queen is a criminal defense attorney who instantly recognizes what the killing of Officer Reed means for the two of them and pleads with Slim to get in the car and get the hell out of town. What follows is the folkloric road trip where Queen and Slim fall in love while grappling with the consequences of their fateful first date. There is only one way this tragic tale can end and screenwriter Lena Waithe and director Melina Matsoukas don’t pretend otherwise. They only ask you sympathize and maybe even fall in love with Queen and Slim as they fall in love with each other.

On their road trip they go to Queen’s Uncle Earl played by Bokeem Woodbine, a sweat suit, bling wearing pimp who lives with his gaggle of hookers. Queen asks for his help but he at first refuses. It is the nudging of his hookers that has ultimately relent and agree to help until Queen asks for one of his cars. That’s a bridge too far for Earl and who flatly refuses and only begrudgingly relents when Queen reminds him that he owes her. Waithe has a nice organic way of trickling down only just enough exposition in any given scene to flesh out that scene. In this case the tensions in family dynamics.

It is the fatalistic Queen who much more than Slim understands how this tale ends but Slims optimism and faith amid his unraveling nerves is strong enough to give Queen enough hope to allow her to feel for Slim in ways she’s not really allowed herself to feel about a man in quite a while. Jodie Turner-Smith walks upright, fierce and tall but again, it is Slims shorter more slouched gait that burns with quiet confidence allowing her to be vulnerable when she needs to be. The chemistry between Kaluuya and Turner-Smith is a smoldering give and take that naturally falls into each others arms.

There is a scene before they reach Uncle Earl’s home where they’re hitchhiking after their car runs out of gas and picked up by a kindly cowboy who turns out to be a Sheriff (Benito Martinez) and his presence is a stark contrast to the power hungry cop Officer Reed in the beginning of the film. He’s not just friendly, he’s kind and not only gives them a ride to the gas station, he perceptively realizes they don’t have cash for the gas and pays for it himself. Of course, inside the gas station he realizes that Queen and Slim are fugitives and while he remains kind and even friendly, Queen and Slim have crossed their threshold and they steal the Sheriff’s truck to get to Uncle Earl’s.

While Melina Matsoukas has a long list of music videos she’s directed as well as several television episodes, Queen and Slim is her first feature film and she exhibits an impressive confidence as a film-maker. The film ends in an overly melodramatic finish that she managed to avoid all the way through this tale, but it is always the journey that singes the memory, not the destination. Waithe’s script is economical without being cheap (until the melodramatic ending) and both of these women show plenty of promise.

Uncle Earl, upon seeing Queen and Slim walk into his home quips; “Well, if it isn’t the black Bonnie and Clyde.” He’s being ironic, but also pointing out how the very real Bonnie and Clyde had achieved folk hero status before their demise and that status only grew with time afterward. It is this smart but subtle commentary on folk lore and how it affects those who share it that is only just one example of the talent that brims from Matsoukas and Waithe.