'Small Axe: Lover's Rock' Review

TV-MA

Runtime: 1 Hr and 8 Minutes

Production Companies: EMU Films, Turbine Studios, BBC Studios, Amazon Studios

Distributor: Amazon Prime Video

Director: Steve McQueen 

Writers: Steve McQueen and Courttia Newland

Cast: Amarah-Jae St. Aubyn, Micheal Ward, Ellis George, Daniel Francis-Swaby, Shaniqua Okwok

Release Date: November 27, 2020

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A single evening at a house party in 1980s West London sets the scene, developing intertwined relationships against a background of violence, romance, and music.

Last decade, director Steve McQueen gave us the brutal, horrific, gut-wrenching horror movie (for Black people) that was 12 Years a Slave. Albeit being a great movie, it was the tipping point –– and, to an extent, the pinnacle –– of slave movies, a genre that Black audiences are tired of. For God’s sake, the thriller Antebellum, which is being released as I type this review, has been heavily criticized, especially by Black critics, for its excruciating and tasteless sequences of racial violence. Now, as part of his Small Axe anthology for Amazon Prime/BBC, Steve McQueen switches it up by delivering a beautiful, moving depiction of Black joy packaged in a heartwarming letter to the Lover’s Rock scene in the ‘80s.

The story is told in a single Saturday night through the perspective of Martha (Amarah-Jae St. Aubyn), a teenager who sneaks out of her house in a stylish dress to meet up with her friend, Patty (Shaniqua Okwok) as they venture out to the West of London to attend a Lover’s Rock party. There she meets a kind young gent named Franklyn (Micheal Ward) and they share a sweet, romantic evening together in this lively, intoxicating Black West Indian Party.

Lover’s Rock is like a soft cozy blanket that makes you smile in its warmth. McQueen definitely threw his heart and soul into this self-contained slice-of-life feature. The cordial editing is stellar as the camera is set on various characters with their own personalities and intentions, but he ever so often relays it back to the dance floor where beautiful Black people, dressed in their sparkly and dapper early ‘80s party fits, dance in their own radiant joy. It’s so perfectly paced and is framed in such a manner as to display the unbothered, upbeat atmosphere conveying the feeling of the house being a protective barrier from all the racism and discrimination that lives outside of it. It’s so authentically crafted in its music choices as it plays like a typical party with everyone dancing to music such as Carl Douglas’s “Kung Fu Fighting”, then deviating to slow, romantic music where everybody grabs a partner and gets to grinding. It has such a dignified feel to it thanks to the accurate historical context and attention to detail, as well as the food and music choices, especially an acapella scene where the DJ lowers the music while everyone sings “Silly Games” with their heart and soul. Man, my heart just fluttered. Never have I seen a historically-set party movie, rooted in everyone’s shared need to find happiness. 

Seriously, every time a White person appears on the screen, it holds the same weight as when a man appeared towards the end of Portrait of a Lady on Fire. I even thought back to Andy Samberg’s accurate description where he said, “You get lulled into this amazing space of there being no men for a long time in the movie, then a random guy does show up… But him just sitting there eating some slop, you’re like: ‘Ugh, what’s this guy doing here? Get him out of here. He’s ruining the vibe.’” That same exact sentiment applies to Lover’s Rock whenever a White person appears. 

Steve McQueen’s Lover’s Rock is the cinematic equivalent to the saying, “Not a cell phone in sight. Just people living in the moment.” This is the palette cleanser to all the emotionally draining racial news today. It came at both the right and wrong time. Right in the sense that it’s a perfect example of which Black stories should be made right now instead of all this struggle shit, and wrong in the sense that I FUCKING MISS DANCING. I MISS SMOKING WEED WITH MY FRIENDS. I MISS DANCING WITH PRETTY WOMEN AND THEY/THEMS AT PARTIES. Lover’s Rock is so mellow and full of good vibes that it gave me major FOMO. This is my new pandemic comfort movie. Man, there’s no way to describe Lover’s Rock besides calling it a passionately-crafted single-set celebration of West Indian culture.  

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Rating: 4/5 | 89%