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Queen & Slim, out this week, is full of indelible imagery.
A dive bar dipped in cherry lighting.
The colorful shotgun homes of New Orleans.
Deep-brown skin drinking in light the color of cobalt and amber.
From its visual virtuosity to its beguiling score by Devonte Hynes, this is a film bursting with style.
It needs soul, grit, and complexity traits the script sorely lacks.
WhenQueen & Slimbegins, its hard to imagine the love story that blooms afterward.
She scoffs at him praying before his meal at the black-owned diner where they meet.
Hes trying to save face.
When hes pulled over by an overzealous white cop, things take a dramatic turn.
The film is at its best when making an argument to catch joy wherever you could find it.
Its here, in these brief scenes, when the film feels most urgent.
He wears a cranberry velour tracksuit, she a zebra-print dress and snakeskin boots, both visions immediately memorable.
Bokeem Woodbine has a transfixing turn as her uncle, Earl, with whom she has a complicated relationship.
But its Turner-Smith who truly captured my attention in the film with her lupine grace and magnetic presence.
Lena Waithes approach to these subjects is shallow and confused.
Black anger can be beautiful and revolutionary.
It has started movements, changed lives, and shown us more possibilities than we could have imagined.
