Style triumphs over substance in this ambitious, messy film about Queen (Jodie Turner-Smith) and Slim (Daniel Kaluuya), who find themselves on the run after an average first date ends in their self-defence killing of a white cop. It’s an inherently dramatic conceit that, done well, could have been a contemporary classic.
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A leaner, tighter and terser draft of the script would have been appreciated – and would have led to an even better film. But Queen and Slim is still an accomplished debut, with two excellent performances at its heart, and well worth finding on a big screen.
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It's a classic case of style over substance. Shame, because the Queen & Slim film does have a noble message, but it gets overexposed by Waithe's overwrought dialogue. What's more, Matsoukas shows her lack of feature-length experience, one that hasn't yet captured the focussed subtlety of contemporaries such as Barry Jenkins (Moonlight, If Beale Street Could Talk).
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In the end, the trip becomes both exploration and interrogation. All sides of the argument are canvassed and although no conclusion is reached beyond the basic one – that violence is always futile – they shape the narrative into a thoroughly moral tale told with great flair.
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Investing their roles with a somber thoughtfulness, the leads do exquisite work, even when the situation pushes them toward bad decisions or stereotypes.
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This movie feels like something new, and also as if it's been around forever, waiting for its moment.
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It's tempting to fall for, thanks to impeccable work from Matsoukas and Kaluuya, but by the end, for a film so focused on love, I wanted to feel a bit more of it.
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Queen & Slim tackles urgent, difficult subjects with bravery, care and adrenalised genre cool. But it triumphs because it shows you the personal toll beyond the politics. And how black lives brimming with potential can still turn on one fateful moment.
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It's a road movie that's timely - the plot reverberates with recent news stories, heartrending and enraging - but also untethered from headlines or the calendar, unfolding in a dreamscape defined by love and community, empowerment and the art of survival.
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[Matsoukas] sees an opportunity to turn these two fictional characters into vigilante heroes, or martyrs for a cause, or both, and rather than play it frisky and in-your-face, she goes for iconic.
Full reviewQueen & Slim is available to stream in Australia now on Google Play and Apple TV and Foxtel and Binge and Prime Video Store.
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