Van Lathan, formerly of TMZ, also weighed in on the discussion. “Any name-calling is out of line totally,” Lathan wrote. “I didn’t enjoy Queen & Slim. It was well acted, looked beautiful and had great music. Not ‘trash.’ Trash is something to be discarded. I think it’s actually important to discuss this film. But we gotta be real.”
However, Jemele Hill found the film to be amazing, “I saw Queen & Slim a couple of months ago and it was so visually stunning that it actually made it hard for me to pay attention to the amazing story. I’ve never had that feeling before.”
Jelani Cobb said the film captured the injustice of police violence against people of color. “Bonnie and Clyde is the story of two outlaws who are fleeing justice; Queen & Slim is a meditation on a system of justice that treats innocent people as outlaws,” Cobb wrote.
Tre’Vell Anderson of Out Magazine viewed the online discussion as healthy. “I’m actually encouraged by all the conversation Queen & Slim has kicked up about Black art, Black critics, and criticizing Black art. Our art deserves to have these complex and varying, fiery and fierce, mixed and messy conversations, too,” she wrote.
Love it or hate it, Queen & Slim should be viewed as a film that sparked necessary discussions about race, police brutality and love.
