Melina Matsoukis’ first feature length film Queen and Slim is a gorgeous dream about the possibility of black love. It thoroughly examines and seeks to answer the question, what if we needed each other? In the movie two people—one male, one female, both black— are on a very tense tinder date. One of those dates in which the shell of awkwardness never gets cracked and you never trust the other person enough to be yourself. You’re self-conscious about laughing too loud. You brace yourself for judgement every time you share your true feelings about anything substantial. You wait for the date to be over so you can unmatch the person on the way back to your car and be done with them forever. And then you swipe throughout the night looking for your next date. But what if you couldn’t cancel someone for making too much noise when they eat or being a little too abrasive or playing bad music too loudly in the car? What if you were stuck with them? What if you had to ride it out with them until you saw the humanity in them? Until you saw god in them? Until you saw yourself in them? I’m sure a lot more of us would find the love that we say we’re seeking. I’m sure a lot of us would feel worthy of that same love. In Queen and Slim it takes a tragedy in order for the two main characters to completely devote themselves to one another. In the real world it’s a tragedy that we have the capacity to so easily dismiss someone that could be our reason to live.
