We all see the world differently. Even those of us who share similar values can’t help but understand the world in our own unique way.
We come from different places. We come from different families. Heck, even those who grow up in the same families, in the same homes, can see and understand the world and their families in completely different ways.
Race, however, may just be the ultimate filter through which we see the world.
In “Queen & Slim”, the filmmakers ask us to view words like “equality”, “justice”, and, perhaps most importantly, “police”, through the eyes of African-Americans and, not surprisingly, the view is anything but pretty.
First time feature director Melina Matsoukas hits a solid double with the story of a black couple whose first date turns into a nightmare after they are pulled over for a suspected DUI.
The scant background we get on Queen (Jodie Turner-Smith) & Slim (Daniel Kaluuya) happens in the cosy booth of a local diner. While on their Tinder first date, we quickly learn that Queen is an attorney who’s having a very bad day – a client of hers has been sentenced to be executed. She’s pissed at the ruling and at the fact that the death penalty exists at all.
Slim seems like a regular dude – low key, respectful, but no doormat. Maybe not as intelligent as Queen – certainly not as accomplished – but he has a good head on his shoulders and a strong sense of right and wrong.
Queen, though, is not impressed with Slim. Clearly, she is just using him to escape a dreadful day – she even admits as much. In doing so, she proudly lives up to the nickname the filmmakers have given her. Queens have high standards and Slim, who comes off as more of a court jester, is not meeting them. That said, the slippery nature of identity is very much on the minds of writers Lena Waite and James Grey and director Matsoukas. They tackle the theme with smarts and use it to complicate and push “Q&S” beyond the admittedly enjoyable yet superficial pleasures of an outlaw couple on the lam film.
After the diner, the two hop into Slim’s car. Hoping to salvage the date, Slim tries to penetrate Queen’s steely personality. No luck. She has had enough and wants him to drive her home. He does. At this point, it looks like the date that was is now the date that’s done. Then the police lights come on.
What should have been a routine traffic stop escalates quickly and turns deadly when Slim (Daniel Kaluuya) shoots a white police officer (Sturgill Simpson) dead.
Sadly, as we all know, this scene, which propels the lives of Queen & Slim into the ugly unknown, is one that has played out in real life with real people’s lives coming to an awful and abrupt end.
Philando Castile comes to mind. His life ended suddenly after a traffic stop for burnt out brake lights. Acquitted of second degree manslaughter and intentional discharge of a firearm that endangers safety, police officer Jeronimo Yanez swore that he thought Castile was reaching for his gun – a gun, by the way, that Castile told Yanez he was legally carrying. Castile’s girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, who was in the passenger seat when it all went down, told Yanez immediately after the shooting that her boyfriend was reaching for his wallet. Sadly, Reynolds 4 year-old daughter was in the backseat and witnessed the shooting as well. Castile, still seated in the driver’s seat, quickly died from his wounds.
Then there is Sandra Bland. She was pulled over for failing to use her turn signal. Three days later, she was found hanging in her cell at the Waller County Jail in Texas. I could probably go on for a half dozen more pages.
In “Q&S”, the deadly traffic stop involving a white police officer and a black man and a black woman is a perfect illustration of how a minor situation can turn ugly and bloody fast. A cop clearly going beyond his stated intentions meets two people from a race with historical example after historical example of being on the blunt receiving end of discrimination and it’s a wonder that traffic stops like these don’t go off the rails more frequently.
And, there is plenty of evidence to suggest that police are discriminating against black and Latino drivers in their choice of who to pull over and when. From 2011-2017, Stanford University compiled data from 100 million traffic stops across 21 states. One of their findings was that, “…officers generally stop black drivers at higher rates than white drivers…” Also, “After accounting for age, gender, and location, we find that officers ticket, search, and arrest black and Hispanic drivers more often than whites.” And then this, “…we find that police require less suspicion to search black and Hispanic drivers than whites. This double standard is evidence of discrimination.”
Queen and Slim’s sudden and unexpected vacation from the life of an ordinary everyday law abiding citizen to the world of disguises and laying low is one fraught with struggles both of a deadly and deadly mundane nature.
They barely know each other. Their date was a brief dud. Destined to exit each other’s life in short order, they instead have to find a way to get along. Not only that, but they have to agree on a series of decisions that will determine their shared fate. Naturally, as the one who ended the date, Queen shows the most signs of agitation at their forced coupling. That agitation surfaces in the parking lot of a burger joint. Slim’s chomping away at his greasy burger is just too much for the refined Queen to take. She scolds him for eating too loudly. It’s a nice comic moment that humanizes both of them and reminds us that Queen still sees herself sitting on a throne high above the brutish little man she is, nevertheless, forced to indulge.
Though the film makes several minor missteps – including a ridiculous scene inside a gas station convenience store – overall, “Q&S” is smart and compelling. It is no one sided rant, either. The world depicted in its 2+ hours is one of shattered assumptions and unintended consequences. It deftly explores the gap between reputation and reality, between the aspirational and the sad state of things as they are now. It’s part intimate portrait of a burgeoning bond forged in blood – both the blood of the dead white cop and the blood that flows through each of their bodies – and a portrait of a society still stuck in the mud of unrealized potential.
Performances range from good to excellent and that excellence kicks off with the two leads. The chemistry between Turner-Smith and Kaluuya is undeniable. It sparks equally during fights and friendlier moments, during moments of real peril and moments of genuine tranquility. At first, they look and sound like the most unlikely of couples – a mismatch from a mile away. But, by the end, after the awful toll of life-on-the-run has worn them down and left their heads spinning from all the sick surprises that seemingly sprung from nowhere to undercut their faith in greater humanity, they are, at last, each others only choice and only chance for transcendence. Not transcendence from mortal life, but transcendence from the wicked world that would conspire to reduce these two walking, talking human beings to just another static set of statistics.
It is in the detail rich and careful unfolding of their relationship that we see this triumph. The rest of the country may champion or demonize them from afar, but in close, in the warm womb of their coupling, we watch them grow and become like twin refutations of systemic racism and simplistic categorizations.
Bokeem Woodbine is a treat to watch as Queen’s Uncle Earl. That voice – so deep and distinctive – takes up so much space in his scenes. It’s like a fat, bloated body pushing its way down a narrow hallway. It commands attention. Yet, the filmmakers know enough to poke pins in that bloated body of a voice and, by doing so, make Uncle Earl more real and more memorable.
The rest of the cast adds lots of flavour to the stew – Indya Moore, Flea, Bertrand E Boyd II, Dickson Obahor and Jahi Di’Allo Winston among the most effective in making the most of their brief screen time.
Though some of the punches thrown by “Q&S” are predictable, there are more than enough that catch you by surprise. The best of these moments are not necessarily inevitable, yet they are certainly in the realm of the entirely possible – their logic being that chaos begets chaos. Once you have committed an unreasonable act, you invite, if not trigger, further unreasonable acts. (The unreasonable act in this film being the white police officer’s unreasonable conduct during a reasonable traffic stop.) Soon, chaos reigns. One of those chaotic moments – a doozy of an uppercut that leaves you half-dazed – is fueled by an anger that is, at once, fully justified and tragically misdirected. Add to the fact that this awful and deeply affecting moment is part of a devastating piece of parallel editing and you have one hell of a scene.
That parallel edit – a key moment in the film – is one that carries striking contrasts and surprising similarities. Both moments are interactions between African-Americans, feature acts that are identified with foundational and transformational moments of the human experience and feature an uncontrollable rush of emotions that propel each of the characters forward towards a new reality.
The two moments differ in that one is an act of anger, the other an act of love. One breaks a connection while the other strengthens one. One represents an ending, the other – a new beginning. The two moments collide again and again into each other on their way to a shared conclusion that complicates as much as it clarifies. In some ways, the paired moments represent the best and worst possible outcomes of the journey that Queen and Slim are on.
In the end, Queen and Slim’s life on the run takes them as far emotionally as it does physically. It brings them closer to one another as individuals – a man and a woman – and as individuals of the same race. In regards to the latter, unfortunately, they are subject to the forces of discrimination that are both consciously and unconsiciously applied by the dominating race.
Tense, rich in detail, messy, provocative and, ultimately, a profound statement of defiance, “Queen & Slim” is just plain good filmmaking.
