Queen & Slim 2019

C+

I remember this movie getting good reviews and I finally decided to borrow it with a Screen Pass. It is a classic indie movie in just about every way as events just happen and we see the main characters enjoying the countryside and meeting crazy characters. But first they shoot a cop (arguably self defense) on their first date, setting everything in motion. There is certainly an attempt being made at saying something meaningful about Black Lives Matter, but only in a very fictionalized and not particularly realistic way. People do a lot of nonsensical things so it is hard to get much out of it except nonsense. The movie feels pretty low budget and the acting isn’t always great, but I did enjoy the characters and appreciate the very rough spot that the two main characters are in. You want them to be able to get away even though their odds are terrible. The movie starts out with a lot of action, but really loses steam as it crawls to the end. There will be plenty of movies about everyday black people caught in police violence and this movie seems a little like a rough draft of a formula, but not everything is worked out.

spoilers

Written: 18 Feb 2022