Universal Pictures has released a new trailer for Queen & Slim. This is certainly being positioned as a possible awards season contender, and the previous trailers have made it easy to see why. This latest look provides more insight into the story at hand and it’s incredibly dramatic and tense, but it’s also equally easy to see, even from just two minutes of footage, how this could potentially become a controversial movie. At the very least, it’s certainly going to stir up a lot of conversation.
This trailer dives a bit deeper into the inciting incident, which sees Daniel Kaluuya’s character and Jodie Turner-Smith, who makes her feature debut here, getting into a deadly altercation with a police officer. They end up having to go on the run and, as we see, there’s a lot of grey area here. Yes, they shot a cop but were they provoked? Were their lives being threatened when that happened? It’s all laid out in such a way that raises questions. Quite a few people are willing to help these two lovers out on their journey as they run from the law, which leads to some eyebrow-raising moments.
Related: Queen & Slim Trailer #2 Takes on Police Brutality in America
Gun violence has been a particularly hot topic in America in recent years. One specific area of focus concerns police violence. Specifically, police violence against people of color. Writer/director Melina Matsoukas is tackling the topic head-on here. It’s a sensitive subject and one that fuels spirited debate. Art and cinema are often important parts of such debates. Undoubtedly, even without seeing the movie in its entirety, there’s no question Queen & Slim is going to provide a lot of fuel to that debate. It will be incredibly interesting to see how this plays out once critics have the chance to weigh in.
Queen & Slim centers on a couple who are on a seemingly forgettable first date with one another. A black man (Daniel Kaluuya) and a black woman (Jodie Turner-Smith) are pulled over after the date for a minor traffic violation. The situation rapidly escalated, with sudden and tragic results, when the police officer is killed in an act of self-defense. The two are then forced to go on the run. However, the whole thing was captured on video, which then goes viral, and the couple unwittingly gains a great deal of notoriety, further complicating matters.
This movie has been positioned as something of a modern Bonnie a Clyde, as the two legendary outlaws even get a name-drop in the trailer. The screenplay was based on an idea by author James Frey (A Million Little Pieces, Katerina). Queen & Slim is set to arrive in theaters on November 27. Will this become an Oscar contender upon arrival? Will potential controversy end up overshadowing the movie itself? Or will the art ascend above the noise? We’ll find out soon enough. Be sure to check out the new trailer from the Universal Pictures YouTube channel for yourself.
