Part of Beloved: A Spotlight Series on Black Female Directors
Tue, Feb 21 at 8:00pm: Post-screening discussion with Erica Renee from the Black Nashville Assembly and Belcourt staff member Sheronica Hayes, who programmed the BELOVED series | BUY TICKETS
Slim (Daniel Kaluuya) and Queen’s (Jodie Turner Smith) first date takes an unexpected turn when they are pulled over for a minor traffic violation. An intense standoff escalates when Slim disarms the police officer and shoots him in self-defense. On the run and labeled as cop killers by the media, Slim and Queen become a symbol of trauma and Black justice after a video of the incident goes viral. Although they are practically strangers, Slim and Queen’s romantic relationship blossoms as they process grief and fight for their survival.
“Searing, timely and brilliant…. This is one of the best and most important movies of the year.” —Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times “QUEEN & SLIM is an extraordinary Black Odyssey; a film whose tracks reverberate with echoes of the underground railroad…. Like Beyonce’s “Formation” video — which Matsoukas is most known for directing — and the vivid photography of Birney Imes, this drama depicts a way of life unseen by white America. It’s Black love, Black bonds, Black rebellion, a Black ebullience.” —Robert Daniels, The Playlist “Writer Lena Waithe and first-time feature director Melina Matsoukas…weave the grim fatalism with which Queen and Slim approach the criminal justice system with a romance that alternates between the intimate and the epic. A close cousin of Barry Jenkins’ MOONLIGHT and IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK in their shared love of melancholy yearning, it is, to my mind, easily one of the best movies of the year.” —Inkoo Kang, Slate
