★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Please note this review contains minor spoilers in the second paragraph.
Melina Matsoukas has certainly made her mark on the film industry. Her feature directorial debut, Queen & Slim, is a slow-burn that transforms two strangers into ride-or-die companions as they embark on a cross-country race for survival. Nominated for over forty awards, the film layers metaphors with jaw-dropping cinematography and production design to remould a classic story into something unique yet familiar.
Queen & Slim’s story begins with an awkward, unpromising Tinder meetup. Nothing about the dinner between Queen, a criminal defence attorney, and Slim, a religious family-man, seems like it would elicit a second date. His order is wrong and they argue about correcting the waitress. She casually reveals a client of hers received the death sentence earlier that day. Not exactly the makings of a classic love story. Things go from bad to worse when the two are pulled over by an aggressive police officer who is so trigger happy, his hand may as well be glued to his gun. After Queen is shot in the leg, Slim struggles with the cop and in a desperate act of self-defence, ends up fatally shooting the officer. Instantly, the two non-lovebirds are faced with an impossible decision to flee or try and turn themselves in, hoping for mercy. Given the way the American justice system disproportionately harms Black individuals, the two make an understandable decision to go on the run and try to escape to Cuba by way of Florida. Thus begins an epic love story sandwiched between state-sanctioned death.
Image via AZ Central
It’s hard to pick one element of Queen & Slim that stands as being remarkable because every facet of the film is so well-executed. The writing, performances, and cinematography all indicate Matsoukas’ ability to execute a strong vision with identifiable style. The work of Production Designer Karen Murphy (It Comes At Night, A Star is Born) and Costume Designer Shiona Turini (Insecure) is so fantastic, any review would be incomplete without mentioning the amazing work of this duo and their team. The props, costumes, and sets have a strong, intentional focus on vibrant colour that is complimented by the work of cinematographer Tat Radcliffe (Pride). Every aspect flows together to create a film that is as much an art piece as it is a good story.
Image via That Shelf
Having nearly two decades of music video directorial experience under her belt, Matsoukas proves the importance of marrying style and narration to create a stellar end product. Queen & Slim has a rhythmic, stylized feeling reminiscent of her past work in Beyoncé’s Pretty Hurts and Formation. The similarities are not solely visual — the powerful messages seen in her past work surrounding race, police brutality, and feminism leave their fingerprints on every essence of the story. Matsoukas’ use of violence (or lack thereof) as a motif is a refreshing change for the road crime genre. Despite the inciting incident of the film resulting in death, Queen & Slim pushes most of its violence off-screen, opting for subtle, pulsing adrenaline rather than bloody fistfights. What on-screen violence does occur disproportionately affects Queen and leaves visual reminders throughout the entire film that she has not healed from the violence enacted upon her.
Queen & Slim uses powerful silences in a heavy script to create something so uniquely stunning, you can’t help but be eager for more. Matsoukas has undoubtedly made lifelong fans with this film and will continue to do so with everything she continues to create.