Queen & Slim

The motif of freedom is intrinsic to every road movie and every film about outlaws, but in the case of Queen & Slim, it takes on much more urgent contours, as the premise is rooted in a situation that poses a completely realistic threat to part of the American population. From the initial situation in which two ordinary people who are just getting to know each other over dinner become involuntary outlaws, Lena Waithe, who superbly thematicised the cycle of violence in her dramatic series The Chi, does not veer into the expected exploitational or genre conventions. Though she works well with the tension stemming from the question of whom the protagonists can trust, she focuses primarily on the central couple themselves and their gradually developing relationship. Thanks to that, viewers will not get a “black Bonnie and Clyde” (as is sarcastically mentioned in the film), but rather a spellbinding and tremendously stylish contribution to the lovers-on-the-run category that is not merely a variation on the theme, but a standalone work that additionally comments on the tragic aspects of racial tension in contemporary America. (05.04.2020)