There are two kinds of bad independent films: The low-budget Sundance indie that is afforded the opportunity to take risks, good or bad; ones that end up as reactive cases that can be meshed into the Sundance drama category. Then there is the other, albeit much rarer, type: the reductive, safe type, hiding a banal plot underneath the glitz and glamour. With a director like Melina Matsoukas (a multi-ethnic female director of color known for her indelible music videos) and Lena Waithe (Emmy winner of the masterful “Thanksgiving” episode from Master of None), Queen & Slim had a lot of potential. Add in Daniel Kaluuyah of Get Out and decade-worthy Widows fame and a new up-and-coming starlet in the form of Jodie Turner-Smith, this was a potential late-year wild card up Hollywood and Universal’s sleeve. Instead, what we get is the rare type of bad indie, the one too wrapped up in self-mythologizing and a shallow black experience story to creatively shift the on-the-run genre and shine above the rest.
The film follows the promising story of a date gone bad. Queen and Slim, named at the end in their martyr state, are off to a rocky start, with one seeking attention and the other seeking brief solace. But when a routine traffic stop turns to anything but, Queen and Slim go on the run. Their journey takes them across the roads of Americana as their legend and love for each other grows larger. Once the central story evolves into something more, Queen & Slim presents its thin foundation with an awkward two-hander, landing somewhere between plot-less visual piece and laborious plot-driven drama.
The film, and subsequently its script, shows all of its cards from the opening scene; In other words, once you know the story, it is easy to see where this will go. The two characters have a beguiling resentment for each other, born from contrasting backgrounds and ideologies. Queen, one of the many underwritten elements of the film, comes from a background of eye-rolling authority, initially refusing to go with Slim because she will figure it out on her own. However, an hour later in the film’s running time later, she is caressing Slim while they make love – a scene notable as one the few risks the film takes as it crosscuts with deadly riots in support of the two lovers. If you think you’ll miss anything in between, you won’t. They dance in a sun-soaked bar; They almost get caught a couple of times; they change clothes. That’s it. That’s the plot.
Queen & Slim is filled with clunky and self-aggrandizing dialogue. For every thoughtful (albeit heavy-handed) dialogue sequence, there is a loopy sequence appealing to God or legacy. The imagery is colorful and sultry; Matsoukas shows an adept ability at framing the camera in isolated frames in the beginning; the general distrust between each other presented in a clear way. By the end, the isolated frames have collided into one another, heads and arms flying outside the window as they learn to embrace life. Waithe may have an inept ability to write her main characters, but her supporting character glows with aberrated rhythm. Additionally, Bokeem Woodbine has a riotous role as Queen’s uncle. On top of that, even Flea shows up as another supporting character. There is a generous virtuosity to the film’s delectable images as the film bursts with style from the seams. But the film wants to be more than that. There are supporting characters that Waithe wants to beam with operatic complexity that turn out to be – well – nothing but average, albeit wacky, supporting characters. The story wants to explore societal fragments located within a Bonnie and Clyde mythmaking tale of black love and resistance. Instead, the script and storytelling let the premise and potential down, resulting in a forgettable Thanksgiving option.
2.5/5 STARS