_Queen & Slim_ is a road movie that takes its sweet time to get where it's going but that's fine because the time is sweet and if the film wasn't in a hurry, neither was I.

Sure there were some scenes that tried too hard to be poetic and some speeches that reached far too much for meaning and these would've been better left on the cutting room floor. But in the end what mattered is that they did try, and the desire with which they strived is what gives the film its poetry and makes the movie meaningful.

One of the more beautiful aspects of _Queen & Slim_ is that it is very much pro-black without being anti-white, anti-male or even anti-cop. They should've called it _Black Book_ because it's the film _Green Book_ liked to think it was, or _African American Honey_ because its imagery of the sprawling expanse of the United States of Black America made this film the treasure it is.

As for the occasional missteps, the gorgeous soundtrack glosses over the flaws and helps deliver a film of rare raw and polish. I just hope the white privilege (myself included) filling the Parisian cinema I was at heard the message this movie was making.