Wednesday, June 10, 2020

Queen And Slim

I'm really depressed now.



I greatly enjoyed and was even a bit moved by this movie, but it truly breaks my heart that the world of the movie is no different than reality. The story spans over the course of six days as one time date couple Ernest and Angela are on the run after killing a police officer in self defense, as we follow their progress from Ohio to Florida as they meet sympathizers to their situation, law enforcement seeking to arrest them, and people who don't even know who they are. Again very much like Parasite, it just shows people both good and bad. We see white people who stand with them, and black people who stand against them and what they stand for, and vice versa with no true antagonist of the story. It's not a person but a major problem of society itself, the film on multiple occasions brings up fictionalized yet all too real situations of violence and cultural standards. It makes one disgusted to be designated human sometimes. And the film really doesn't shy away from the grim meathook realities of the events as Ernest and Angela travel, slowly becoming folk heroes in the eyes of many and having to come to terms with their situation. Daniel Kaluuya has supreme amounts of charm and is impossible not to like and really he only gets better as the film goes on, he's a nice man who believes in God, doesn't drink, doesn't smoke, very empathetic and even a pacifist. But he was the one who pulled the trigger and we see him try to deal with that, he has every intention to turn himself in because even he can't believe what happened though it was a survival situation. Now I'm not saying all cops are horrible, they are people who wish to perform a public service to protect and serve, but this guy....oooh boy, he was an uppity little prick. Did he deserve death? I have no authority or place to say, not now not ever, but he could have been nicer. That's pretty much my stance on things, I don't care who you are, where you come from, what your language is, any of that, if you're a nice and reasonable person then you're my new buddy. And if you're a jerk, f*** off. Jodie Turner-Smith is very much a polar opposite in character as Angela, very honest and rough, doesn't have much love for cops, easily aggravated, and very much the pessimist of the duo but also the realist. Which makes sense for her character because she's an attorney, she has seen stuff in that position and makes logical sense that she is very closed off and a bit hostile. The writer said that it was very much akin to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X when it came to personality and beliefs of our main duo, which isn't hard to figure out but nevertheless a strong element. The story is great, but the cinematography is absurd. I mean this film looks gooooood, oh my sweet sainted grandmother it is beautiful at times, and the director only worked on music videos and television episodes so she knows damn well how to make a shot interesting and memorable with beautiful atmospheric shots and creative camera work. The only thing that tops that is the score, now the actual song selection is really good, you know I'm a sucker for jazz and more slow soulful kind of music, but the actual score is how can I say this? Uh, perfect. I can't get over how amazing this score is, like get this on my phone, I will buy a CD, kind of quality. Ohh, it's sublime! I pretty much from the first time I saw the trailer, was interested to see this and yeah it took me more than half a year, but I was soooo not disappointed and feel it was very much worth the wait. A very poignant movie that unfortunately has as much importance now as it did decades before the movie even came out. Slim & Queen along with Black Klansman would be a fantastic double feature to have, and so help me if I form an Empire, the times will be a-changing with the future looking truly bright. 4 stars, 8/10! Thank goodness this wasn't the last review of the week I would have been severely depressed, so next time hopefully we can end on a high note.

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