Leading up to the opening night of the film I watched various interviews with the Lena Waithe who wrote the film and then went on to watch round table interviews with the Lena (writer), Melina Matsoukas (director), Daniel Kaluuya (Slim) and Jodie Turner-Smith (Queen). The in depth interviews made me more intrigued to watch the film. The conversation went deep into the layers of the film and deeper meanings. At first glance you see a black Bonnie and Clyde, which is cool but it was so much more to the story. When Lena explained she wrote the script in hopes to humanize blacks in society. She explained the psychology behind when a person is in distress and a gun is pulled on them its smart to start speaking about your family and speak sentimentally to subconsciously ease the gunman's desire to shoot. Lena's goal was to capture the psychology through the story of Queen and Slim.The next time an Officer pulls a gun on a black person there might be some second thoughts and see us as humans with family and careers rather than violent beings. She also took the main characters and loosely incorporated the ideology of Historical Figures Malcolm X and Martin Luther King but flipped into millennial characters of the opposite sex.
How would they react if put in a similar predicament? How would different communitys react to them in present day?
The movie completely blew me away. I left the theater really analyzing it and left me in deep thought. I had a very similar feeling after seeing "Get Out" but these movies are completely different. I felt the realness and relevance of the story. It was VERY BLACK and I say that in the most commendable way. It showed the diverse characteristics of our own people (Kind of like attending an HBCU). It showed a love story of our people. Now don't get me wrong love is love but its something about seeing black love celebrated on the big screen. You don't see that often and when you do its not pure or there is some issue or extreme power struggle. The story was REAL in every aspect. I'm very disappointed but not surprised to hear that "Queen and Slim" did not receive a single nomination in the Golden Globe Awards. On Monday December 9th the 2020 Golden Globes nominations were revealed and since then Director Melina Matsoukas made various statements about her feelings.
“We held three screenings for the HFPA [Hollywood Foreign Press Association] and almost no members attended,” Matsoukas said. “For me, it’s reflective of their voting body. It’s not reflective of the society in which we live in or the industry as it stands today. They don’t value the stories that represent all of us, and those stories are so often disregarded and discredited, as are their filmmakers”.VF credit
Despite how Hollywood ingest this Film is well worth the visit to the Theater. "Queen and Slim" comes highly recommended from the desk of LivinLifeProductions. Trust me you will not be disappointed.
KEEP DREAMING
You know what time it is Y’all, it’s #summerjam2019! On June 2nd some of hip hop’s biggest artist will be tearing down the stage at the famous MetLife Stadium. Last week it was a party on the radio as each artist in the line up was released. This year the stage will be graced by @iamcardib @meekmills @migos @torylanez @artisthbtl @citygirls @bluefacebleedem @Davidoofficial @richthekid and many more! You know there are always tons of surprises and special guest.
