Category Archives: Female Director

1960's, Comedy, Female Director, Independent Feature, Movie Reviews, Movies, SXSW Film Festival, Woman Director

REVIEW: “WOMEN IS LOSERS”(2021) SXSW FILM FESTIVAL

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It’s the early 1960’s in San Francisco, California and the social rules of the time, laws, cultural norms and obstacles are set in place to keep women ‘in their place’ which as the old saying goes, is essentially barefoot and pregnant. It’s worth pointing out that at this time period in America a woman could not open a bank account on her own, get a credit card in her own name, let alone get birth control unless married. All this sums into an old Janis Joplin song released around the same time period, even titled the same, and you realize there couldn’t be more fitting way to put meaning and a story to lyrics than Lissette Feliciano’s film “WOMEN IS LOSERS”. Pulling out a story from an old Joplin song might seem odd, but when you hear and listen to the words, you understand exactly what direction Feliciano’s film is taking you.

Celina (Lorenza Isso) is 17-year-old Latina Catholic schoolgirl living in a household with an abusive alcoholic father Don Juan (Steven Bauer), and sadly, compliant to the violence is her mother Dona Carolina (Alejandra Miranda). Along with her best friend Marty (Chrissie Fit), she goes to a party for her boyfriend Mateo (Bryan Craig), who has just returned from service in the Vietnam War. A minor indiscretion and being told “nothing can happen the first time,” results in Celina getting pregnant. Until that moment, her two favourite things were school, where she is somewhat of a math wiz, and having fun with Marty. After losing Marty to a back-alley botched abortion by a dentist of all people, Celina realizes she has no option but to accept the shame given from her community, school and family. So cue to nine months later Celina gives birth and starts to raise her son on her own, with no help from Mateo.

Being from such a structured, strict, religious community and having not finished her high school education, Celina struggles at a menial job to earn and put away money for her son’s future. She is constantly under the eagle eye of her supervisor Minerva (Liza Weil) who tries to find fault in everything she does. But eventually with her strong work ethic, she catches the eye of her superior, Gilbert Li (Simu Liu), who has his own Chinese immigrant story as well. While Gilbert promotes her from typist to teller at the bank, as he gives her a helping hand as well and teaches her the ways of investing in land, housing etc., there is of course there is always an ulterior motive and Celine learns this the hard way. She also earns the respect of Minerva, who is also defying community with her own inter-racial relationship and gives her a helping hand as well – but with no ulterior motives attached. During all this Mateo and Celine reconnect, marry, although ultimately unsuccessfully, as he is not only jealous of Celine’s work ethic, but he goes back to his old cheating ways with Lois (Alessandra Torresani). Seemingly the only way out for her is divorce or she will fall into being something she does not want be – exactly like her mother.

Director: Lissette Feliciano – “Women Is Losers”

The acting by lead Lorenza Isso truly makes the character of Celine come to life as she gives us her all with every emotion of wanting to laugh, cry, and fight right beside her. The supporting cast of Craig, Chrissie Fit, Miranda, Liza Weil, Liu are all fantastic and only add complexity to this colourful story. There is one scene at the beginning that shows the range of this cast that is done a-la ‘West Side Story‘ style, of a dance off that is truly a choreographed wonder to watch. In addition to the wonderful cast is what it is precisely that “Women Is Losers” brings to the table. To start off with, it speaks volumes about the true struggle of not only women, but marginalized women whether it be because of race, colour or religion – someone is always trying to hold you back. For every step taken forward, five are added to reach the next level. But there is always a price, and while this story ends well, so many do not. If anything to take away from this film, it’s the celebration at the end of Roe v Wade at the end and how this right must never be taken away again as more women like Marty will pay the price of doing so.

Grade: A-

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Review screening : Courtesy of 42 West PR and SXSW Film Festival

Documentary, Female Director, Movie Reviews, Movies, SXSW Film Festival

REVIEW: “LUCHADORAS” (2021) sxsw FILM FESTIVAL

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Going into this SXSW viewing of “LUCHADORAS” and expecting it to be just about some female wrestlers is probably the biggest misconception someone can make about this film from Directors Paola Calvo and Patrick Jasim, including myself.

This fascinating look at not only female wrestlers of Cuidad Juárez, Mexico but all the women of the city. Focusing specifically the stories of four woman – Lady Candy, Baby Star, Little Star and Mini Sirenita who yes, while they are female wrestlers are also so much more. For those who might not be aware, Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, has a reputation for being the most dangerous city in the world while just across the border is El Paso, TX, said to be the safest city in the world. This stark fact is made clear when we see one of the women, Lady Candy, fighting to get her two children back after her husband has taken them over to El Paso – and stops contact with her. We watch as she attempts to get a visa just to visit them, but cost is a factor. She makes $300 a month and the cost of just the visa alone is $160. But going back to the beginning to make this clear from the start. The film begins with voiceover telling us a story about a woman riding the bus to work in one of the factories in the industrial part of the city who was abducted, beaten, and assaulted by the driver. Luckily, she survived to tell her story but it is soon after that we start to find out the true stories of the almost 100 missing women of Juarez. Any of our four women could be one of them, or even the next one as we delve into each of their varying stories of abuse and how of all things, wrestling is what letting them reclaim their power so to speak.

 Again, the stories vary here from Lady Candy’s, to Mini Sirenita who is returning to the ring after a hiatus working in a factory so that she can afford to help her adult daughter living in Mexico City because wrestling pays more. In a completely different vein, we have Baby Star and Little Star. These two sisters, who never remove their masks even in daily life, are trying to figure out the best way to honor their family wrestling legacy while setting an example for Baby’s young daughter who of course, wants to be just like her mom. What Calvo and Jasim do so well here is highlight the every day normalcy of these women’s lives outside of the ring, providing us an inside glimpse at their personas, their fears, and their dreams. But also giving focus to the everyday struggles and the fight from not only these four women, but the many women of Juarez who get out there and stand up and fight for not only themselves and their families, but for the rights of all the murdered women of Juarez. Putting it straight up – these women are more than just wrestlers, they are mothers, daughters, sisters and women standing up for themselves at a time when doing so, can get them killed.

“Luchadores” is raw and defiant, tension filled, yet also filmed with love as you can see each women’s story for what it truly is. And it is beautifully filmed showing every crack and emotion of feelings from joy, to sadness, anger and most of all, inner strength. This is so much more than just a female wrestling movie and I hope more people than just myself take the time to find this out.


I stand with the women of Juarez – and so should we all.

Grade: B+
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Review Screening courtesy of Ryan Bruce Levey film distribution and PR services & SXSW Film Festival

Documentary, Female Director, Movie Reviews, SXSW Film Festival

REVIEW: “THE LOST SONS”(2021) SXSW DOCUMENTARY

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What if one day you woke up and realized you really didn’t know who you were, as in you didn’t know your real name, your birthday or how old you just might be – how would you feel? Would you want answers to these questions and more? Well Director Ursula Macfarlane takes on just this exact question with her documentary “The Lost Sons” which is one of the incredible selection of documentaries showing at the SXSW Film Festival.

The documentary focuses on Paul Joseph Fronczak, who grew up as he puts it “in a great family” and had a wonderful childhood until on his 10th birthday as he is searching secretly for his presents and finds newspapers articles of his mom and dad on the front page – with the headlines “BABY HUNT DRAGS ON IN CITY.” As he reads through the various articles, about a baby being kidnapped straight out of his hospital crib one day after he was born, he realizes he just might be that kidnapped baby…or is he. His mother Dora and father Chester, push the narrative that he is their kidnapped son and that is that. For a while at least.

This journey is probably one of the most remarkable things to follow as it has more twists and turn than most feature thrillers and as incredible as it is, it’s all true. Paul was “found” 15 months later in Newark, New Jersey where a foster family named him Scott, until of course the FBI supposedly puts two and two together and decide he might be the kidnapped baby Paul from Chicago. Turns out he is neither Scott nor Paul – but he IS Jack, and that is the trail we follow along with. How Paul, through Ancestry test, finds out who he is really is and who his family really was. It’s a absolute mind-bender of a journey that will at some points make you laugh, cry and shock you to your core.

Much has been written about this and back when the story was first recognized for what it was that happened, it was all over every news channel around the world. People reached out that had been neighbors, friends of the family and even a babysitter. While they try to fill in some of the blanks, it seems some will just never be filled or known. There is a price to pay for finding out though and Paul pays dearly throughout his life in various ways from losing contact with his family, to a divorce to finding himself and realizing he has always been searching for something and probably always will be.

Grade: A

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Review Screening courtesy of SXSW Film Festival and DDA PR

1960's, Drama, Female Director, History, Movie Reviews, Movies, Woman Director

REVIEW: “ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI” (2021) Amazon Studios

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A stylish and promising debut from Regina King at the helm “ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI” is a fascinating watch with King working in close collaboration with Kemp Powers to adapt his own play to the screen with a story that pits four iconic figures and their beliefs against one another. The film is set mostly at the Hampton House, a motel in Miami’s Brownsville neighborhood and was one of only a few places for Black entertainers and celebrities to stay while performing at the swanky clubs and hotels of the then segregated Miami Beach.

After Cassius Clay (Eli Goree) wins the World Heavyweight Championship from Sonny Liston in Miami, he meets up with Jim Brown (Aldis Hodge), Sam Cooke (Leslie Odom Jr.) and Malcolm X (Kingsley Ben-Adir), all legends in their own right, to discuss their individual roles that they can play in the civil rights movement amid the upheaval of the 60s. Clay has promised Malcolm X that he will embrace Islam and change his name to Muhammad Ali the next morning. Ali/Clay’s boxing career had reached new heights, but he was barred from Miami Beach due to Jim Crow laws at the time, but he also unaware that Malcolm has just broken ranks with Elijah Muhammad, the national leader of the Nation of Islam at the time.

Introducing each of the characters in their everyday vocations as Cook is a hugely successful singer although he seems to be struggling with being accepted across the board i.e., by white audiences, Brown is a famous NFL player, but he’s also just had a taste of movie stardom and likes it, the soon to be Muhammad Ali is the World Heavyweight boxing champ and Malcolm X is a minister and one of the biggest leaders of the Civil Rights movement at the time. The struggles they faced in being black men sets the film up for a rather powerful main act where they discuss how they can use their positions of varied success to be heard during the civil rights movement.

This film has a dash of ironic, humorous moments which serve it well, because a good chunk of the film is a bit intense and lags at times with the rhythm getting bogged down for a few scenes, but there are some lively moments, especially revolving around musical performances. The acting by the four leads though is what kicks this film up at least ten notches as they give it their all, even though their were a few times their personas felt a bit pushed and character-ish. It’s so very difficult when an actor portrays a real person though all of them found a fine balance within their performances. Leslie Odom Jr showed off his singing chops, Ben-Adir gave us a talkative beautiful Malcolm X, Goree gave us all the ‘float like a butterfly – sting like a bee’ he had, but my personal choice was Aldis Hodge’s portrayal of Jim Brown, especially as Mr. Brown is still the only member here still alive. Hodge captured him as I someone who supported his friend, yet was also moving in the direction of ‘going Hollywood’ at time when not many men of colour had that opportunity. I think my only beef is the female co-stars Joaquina Kalukango as Betty X and Nicolette Robinson as Cooke’s wife Barbara, got the short shrift here with a scarce amount of lines, but then it is a story about the four men so on the other hand, it makes sense. Add in the wonderful Lance Reddick, Michael Imperioli, Beau Bridges in supporting roles and you’ve got yourself kicking up more notches up to round out this film. The production design, costumes, and soundtrack were beautiful and having said that, there are parts of the dialogue which are genuinely stirring.

‘One Night in Miami’ is an absorbing & entertaining film about the power of these men who while having some conflicting ideals, are really all striving for the same common goal.

Grade: B+

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Review screening: Courtesy of Ginsberg/Libby PR

“ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI” IS OUT IN SELECT THEATERS WHERE AVAILABLE AND COMING TO PRIME VIDEO ON FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 2021

Drama, Female Director, Independent Feature, Movie Reviews, Movies, Woman Director

REVIEW: “NOMADLAND” (2020) Searchlight Pictures

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Opening titles of the film: “On January 31, 2011, due to a reduced demand for sheetrock, US Gypsum shut down it’s plant in Empire, Nevada, after 88 years. By July, the Empire zip code, 89405, was discontinued.”

And thus we begin our journey into this remarkable film which gives us an eye opening look into what happens to the people who have worked their entire lives at one job, where their livelihood and all they know, is suddenly taken from them. Where they are then forced to pack up and vacate due to the fact the company they gave their lives to, also owned their homes. From that opening we follow Fern (Frances McDormand), a hard-working 60-something widow who has lived her entire adult life with her husband who recently passed from cancer, in Empire, NV. before it became a ghost town. With no choice but to convert her van into a home on wheels to live in, we see Fern adopt a semi-nomadic lifestyle and initially she starts off working for Amazon before deciding to leave and start moving from place to place as she hustles from part-time job to part-time job while travelling through the campgrounds of America.

The various jobs that she works throughout the film and the people she interacts with all complement the film’s character development giving us an insight most of us will never be privy to. While most of the supporting characters are not in the film for too long, they are all thoroughly unique and interesting as well. Along the way, Fern meets and makes friends with others in her same situation, sort of a group of mostly elderly outcasts who’ve been equally affected by America’s crippling recession. While new friends like Swankie (Charlene Swankie), the sweet Linda (Linda May), and silver-haired David (David Strathairn), who clearly wants more than just a friendship with her, Fern seems to have committed to the nomad lifestyle. While all these people in the caravans that travel around are all feeling out what is in front of them, they are also all finding the independence of this unplanned situation both freeing and limiting. You truly empathize for them and realize that the nomad lifestyle is not only one rooted in hardship, such as financial difficulty, but can also be one of hope for some of them and puts forth the struggles each of them face within themselves and others.

This isn’t completely all about one woman’s journey, it’s truly a movie about life and although the film is slow paced, it is so well done and entertaining that time flies. It was also very clever of our uncomparable female director Chloe Zhao, to cast non-actors and genuine nomads in a lot of the roles as it really give it a genuine feel into nomadic life and I wish everyone of them could be named here as they were all wonderful. There is a lot of reasons to watch this film and probably one of the biggest is Francis McDormand’s one woman showcase that she gives us here, carrying almost the entire movie on her shoulders alone with ease and it’s a beauty of a performance to be sure. ‘Captivating’ is the closest one word description one comes to as watching this woman attempting to keep it all together while still grappling with the grief of her husband’s death and the loneliness of the open road makes you feel as though you’re taking the journey with her. You can’t ask for her to give much else than that.

Along with all of that, you have the stunning cinematography that shows us the beautiful nature and appealing beauty of the American West. Truly, Chloe Zhao is the Queen of the beautifully done, long winding road films – films that visually show us not only a terrifically done story, but that there really is still so much beauty in this world to be seen and had.

Grade: A

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“NOMADLAND” IS OUT IN THEATERS WHERE AVAILABLE (OVERSEAS) AND COMING TO THE U.S. IN FEBRUARY 2021

Comedy, Crime, Drama, Dramady, Female Director, Independent Feature, Movie Reviews, Movies, Woman Director

REVIEW: “PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN” (2020) Focus Features

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Emerald Fennell is tackling the “paybacks are a bitch” scenario putting front and center the toxic behaviour we have all experienced at one time or another as women as she turns the tables and changes the game in a whole new way with her directorial debut here in “PROMISING YOUNG WOMEN”. This is also hands down probably 2020’s best film of the year, along with it being the one that you MUST see for yourself and not read the spoilers before seeing it as it was made to be entertaining, but also very BLUNT to get an important message across. ‘Promising Young Woman’ challenges at every turn the idea of what a “good guy” actually is.

Like so many other films have done before it, the movie gives us an incredible new take on the anger I think a lot of women feel, but it also doesn’t completely vilify men as a gender purely because they are men. Fennell’s stellar direction is so meticulous as it zigs exactly when you think it’s going to zag and zags exactly when you think it’s going zig with twists and turns during every jaw-dropping second of it.

Doing my absolute best to give you the outlining of the plot without a massive spoiler the jist is: Carey Mulligan plays Cassandra Thomas, a brilliant former med student who seemingly had a bright future until a disturbing event clearly turned her life upside down. It’s an event so stunning that we the audience don’t know what it is, but it’s affected her life in a grave manner. As we slowly watch and find out those said events unfold, just turned 30 year old Cassie still lives at home with her parents Susan (Jennifer Coolidge) and Stanley (Clancy Brown), works at a coffee shop, and doesn’t date or have any friends. But by night, she sits in a club, face down in a red leatherette booth, seemingly black out drunk. It’s a nightly routine – she goes to a club, acts too drunk to stand, and waits for a “nice” guy to come over and see if she’s okay. Needless to say Cassie leads a very different life as there is definitely something else here at play as she attempts to right a past wrong, very cynically and calculating as she does so. So she is living this secret double life at night…until she isn’t..or is this one of those zig zags mentioned earlier? Again, this is for you to find out and find out you will as every single delicious moment of this thriller come at you over and over again.

Promising Young Woman also give us an impressive supporting cast. From Adam Brody as her first ‘conquest’ Jerry to Bo Burnham as our cutesy-type doctor Ryan, Laverne Cox as her delicately blunt boss Gail, and Alison Brie who nails her role as former medical school classmate Madison while demonstrating how truly insidious and internalized misogyny can be and how this type of toxic behavior is often normalized in both men and women. Max Greenfield, Alfred Molina, Molly Shannon and Connie Britton all show up for impressive performances and Chris Lowell as Al Monroe is a character no one will be forgetting any time soon. And then there is Carey and Oh Carey! what a performance this is. Her wicked-bad acting powers this film all the way through as she salutes what her character stands for – which is essentially all of us. Never have I seen her take something and truly encompass all that female rage, romance, heartbreak and horror brings us all, in one spectacular performance.

As a warning, the ending is difficult, but at the same time, you can’t see it ending any other way as it’s a cross between triggering, healing and educational all wrapped up and honestly it’s true – revenge has never looked so ‘promising’. Please go see it.

Grade: A+

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Review screening: Courtesy of Ginberg/Libby PR

“PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN” IS OUT ON CHRISTMAS DAY IN THEATERS/DRIVE-INS WHERE AVAILABLE AND ON VOD IN JANUARY

Documentary, Family, Female Director, Holiday, Movie Reviews, Movies

REVIEW: “DEAR SANTA” (2020) IFC Films

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Being in somewhat of a bad mood due to the rise in Covid cases here and another complete lockdown – I dived into this film all the while thinking I was going into a Christmas film about Santa and his reindeer. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

“DEAR SANTA” is a lovely new documentary from Dana Nachman telling us the story of ‘Operation Santa‘ – a lovely program that the United States Postal Office has been operating since 1912 when it was realized something must be done with all the letters children, and yes sometimes even adults, write to Santa each year. There is nothing sweeter than watching the opening where kids excitedly talk about Santa Claus and the letters they write to him. There is nothing that can bring a smile to your face and a lift in your heart more than listening to a young child’s ideal and belief that someone is dedicated to delivering some happiness to each and every one of them. In the 1940’s this wonderful program opened up to the public and has recently has gone online as well. It’s remarkable watching the efforts of everyone from individuals, to families, to companies both large and small, and even other children all join together in this massive effort to bring everyone a little bit of joy during the holidays.

We follow the film as it takes us through big cities and small ones on Christmas day showing us the impact these “Santa’s Elves” have on their communities. We watch as they interview several ‘elves’ in the postal service itself who ‘work with Santa’ to read, sort and deliver the letters received every year. Some of the letters are heart-wrenching as we see families who have been displaced by the huge fire in Paradise, CA or adults who are struggling with just getting beds for their kids. We also follow several of the ‘adopter’ elves i.e., those who go through letters and pick the ones they wish to ‘adopt’ and get the requested gifts and help Santa get those gifts to children and adults all across the country. Some are even past recipients of this wonderful operation and are now giving back in return.

The only beef anyone could possibly come up with about this film is that it’s a bit lengthy, but the end result of it all is this thoughtful, heart-warming, and honest look that proves that not everything is lost in humanity. It’s exactly what’s called for and the world needs back right now, some good old compassion and empathy for others. So if like me you were feeling Grinchy at all this Holiday season – Dear Santa might be just what is in order to remember what makes the season so special.. it’s called giving.

Grade: B+

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Review screening: Courtesy of IFC FILMS

“DEAR SANTA” NOW AVAILBLE ON VOD/DRIVE-INS WHERE AVAILBLE  

 

 

Drama, Female Director, Independent Feature, Movie Reviews, Movies

REVIEW: “CLEMENCY” (2019) Neon Pictures

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“CLEMENCY”  opens with an agonizingly difficult scene and is definitely not for the faint of heart. We are watching a man die. Actually, incorrect. We are watching Victor Jimenez (Alex Castillo) being served his death penalty execution sentence by injection where a good vein cannot be found for the needle and it’s going horrifically wrong in every which way possible. A scene so horribly difficult to watch that no amount of squirming or covering of the eyes will ever quite be enough to un-see it. This horrific opening scene leads us into  Chinonye Chukwu’s second film with a point of view rarely shared, a non-political look at the emotional toll something like this takes on those who must carry out the sentence.

Bernadine Williams (Alfre Woodard) is the female Warden of a prison in Texas where death penalty sentences are carried out per the courts orders. Bernadine’s job involves dealing with every thing from family members, protesters, lawyers, the media, picking of guards and medical staff, overseeing the procedures, even final meals. statements and last rites performed in conjunction with Chaplain Kendricks (Michael O’Neill).  She performs these tasks in a very professional manner while trying to maintain a sense of duty and responsibility, in a seemingly matter-of-fact tone that comes across. This portrayed stoic persona is taking a toll on her life both personally and professionally. She drinks to much, fails miserably at having even the most basic of normal conversation, doesn’t sleep much which leads to more drinking and problems in her marriage to her husband Jonathan (Wendall Pierce), a high school teacher who dreams of them retiring together and taking a much needed sabbatical.

In the aftermath of the horribly botched execution, Bernadine is tasked with having to prepare for the next execution of convict Anthony Woods (Aldis Hodge) and is under pressure to make sure the same mistakes don’t happen. From the Deputy Warden Thomas Morgan (Richard Gunn) to Prison Major Logan Cartright (LaMonica Garrett), most every person she tries to have help, expresses a desire to walk away and this speaks clearly to the burden associated with the tasking of carrying out the sentencing.  In the meantime, Woods, a death row inmate for now for 15 years and with his execution date fast approaching, is feeling the desire to try to leave behind something besides a legacy of his life of crime for his son to remember him by, and for some closure.  Hope rises from him with a visit from his former girlfriend Evette (Danielle Brooks), sadly, as she expresses to Woods what it is she needs, that hope is crushed as well.

Despite his claims of innocence, his confession that he was there but did not commit the crime he is convicted for, and critical evidence showing he was not the one who killed the police officer, Woods’ attorney Marty Lumetta (Richard Schiff) informs him that his last strand of hope is a decree of clemency by the governor as all legal appeals have failed thus far.  The rest of the movie’s parts work within each other to show the toll the past and present executions present and how they all must confront the demons put in front of them. Anthony’s lawyer character, equally damaged by not being able to save Anthony after putting all he had into it, tells him that this is to be his last case as he is on the verge of retiring, but not because he wants to, but because he simply can’t handle the despair of his job anymore. Hodge puts forth an almost non-verbal performance with his unspoken words reflecting his pain almost more than if he had spoken them. There are some moments between prisoner and lawyer that are touching and strong, especially as you realize that well, simply put, this isn’t going to have a happy ending.

But let’s be clear whose movie this really is and that is of course Alfre Woodard. Her ‘Bernadette’ is strong, but oh so pained and flawed. But yet she embraces her with every look, every nuance of this quiet performance is almost loudly done with micro moments that are seismic in the overall perspective. Only the character of Bernadine’s husband seems a bit thinly sketched here jumping into arguments and leaving Bernadine to cope on her own while in clear turmoil. Leaving the performances aside for a moment as the film itself misses something that’s hard to put a finger on. Maybe it’s the overuse of the jerky movement of the handycam in one nauseating scene where the roving camera didn’t fit in well, Maybe it’s the conflicted narrative at times, as we sometimes lose track of what exactly the film is leading us to. Is it Bernadine’s shifting attitude towards laws themselves or is it losing her composure with what the executions toll is taking from her emotionally & physically. Or is it about Anthony isolation for so many years and facing his impending death. Or we could go so far and make it about his lawyers impending resignation. Some of this leaves us hanging without balance, but once again it’s such a performance driven film and without said performances it wouldn’t be nearly so powerful that you almost forget you wished all of the characters were just people you wanted to like, but couldn’t grasp doing so.

Grade: B-

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Media Review Screening: Tuesday, December 3, 2019 ~ Courtesy of 42 West

“CLEMENCY” WILL BE OUT IN SELECT THEATERS ON DECEMBER 27, 2019 

Drama, Female Director, Movie Reviews, Movies, Woman Director

REVIEW: “QUEEN & SLIM” (2019) Universal Pictures

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Queen (Jodie Turner-Smith) and Slim (Daniel Kaluuya) open our story on what is clearly a first date. She an attorney and he a passive religious type, not seeming to even have one single thing in common down to even the tiniest of facts that she orders a salad while he orders steak and eggs. When the eggs aren’t scrambled the way he ordered, she expects him to make a fuss to the waitress and when he doesn’t, she seems to throw shade not just at this fact, but that the diner feels ‘cheap’ to her. But there is more to this that meets the initial eye as he slowly makes his point to her. Not only is the waitress someone he knows from his neighborhood and single mother supporting her kids on her own, but the business is black owned, making the reasoning behind his choice much more than ‘cheap’. This is just the first thing that will make you start to take notice of all the little things that happen throughout this film.

We soon realize that this date is just not working for both parties involved and as Slim is driving Queen home, the couple’s first date takes an unexpected turn when they are pulled over by a police officer.  What happens next will tear the fabric of your being completely apart as you watch with a feeling of being punched in the gut. As you see them pull over and stop for a small driving infraction, things quickly escalate with Slim trying to keep his calm with a cop who is looking for anything to arrest on as he yells at them to keep showing their hands and get out of the car. Instead, as Queen steps out, our trigger-happy officer fires his weapon hitting her in the leg. Slim jumps into a melee with the officer and as they struggle the weapon goes off killing the officer immediately. Our ‘first date’ has just turned into two fugitives going on the run – Bonnie & Clyde style.

queen and slim 1

Without going into spoilers, this is where Director Melina Matsoukas guides us through their entire journey of life on the run. The setup is promising and both actors have enough pull to take you along for the ride. Where it fails at times during this run, is mostly in it’s editing and pacing especially past the halfway point. The movie feels about 40 minutes too long. In the beginning, the characters’ decision to go on the run feels very haphazard, especially considering Queen’s profession. Some of the main character decisions are remarkably dumb at times (a scene at a gas station will leave you scratching your head) and certain other side characters take decisions that are unlike them. The movie can be downright infuriating at times. It has so much potential, but with it’s slow pace it ends up not fulfilling the promise of what could have been a great fugitive movie with a strong social message – even though it legitimately makes you have a physical reaction to what’s happening onscreen. After all that, the movie doesn’t know what it wants to do. It’s plethora of confused dialogue coupled with amazing performances by the two leads make for a tolerable hour of entertainment, but way to long of a journey at 132 minutes of run time.

“Queen & Slim” might have a bit of modern day “Bonnie & Clyde” vibe to it, but this film speaks to our times. It can be electrifying, funny and honest – a film that will grab you along for one hell of a ride. Daniel Kaluuya continues to dazzle and Jodie Turner-Smith is not only simply stunning, but quite remarkable in her performance as well.  A very special mention to supporting actor Bokeem Woodbine who’s performance is unmissable as Queen’s Uncle Earl.

With the screenplay written by Lena Waithe from a story by her and James Frey, the movie is an emotional journey, while not perfect and a bit long, when considering the repetitive structure of the story, this IS a movie that everyone should see. To every single disenfranchised person, most especially those of colour, I’m sure this film hits hard and hits home and there are those of you that can easily envision yourself in their shoes.

Grade: C+

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Media Review Screening: Thursday, November 21, 2019 ~ Courtesy of Universal Pictures

“QUEEN AND SLIM” IS OUT IN U.S. THEATERS NOW // WORLDWIDE TO FOLLOW JANUARY 2020