Alex Wheatle (Small Axe #4) [2020]

 In the previous ‘Small Axe’ chapter, viz. Red, White and Blue, McQueen had portrayed the transformational period of a guy who’s clear about his path. In the series’ penultimate chapter Alex Wheatle, contrarily, he captured a similar period for another guy who’s completely lost, is in an existential flux, and is struggling to find his identity and place in the milieu that he exists. The focus of this biopic is on the younger days of eponymous British-Jamaican novelist, well before he became a well-known writer. It begins with an alienated, angst-ridden Alex (Sheyi Cole) being thrown into prison, and using this as the key narrative hinge McQueen chronicled what brought him there and how that provided new directions to his life. We thus get to know about his Dickensian childhood at an orphanage; how he sheds his faux British façade and imbibes his Caribbeanness – in the form of gait, attire, accents, etc. – under the aegis of a friendly Brixton hustler (Jonathan Jules); his growing passion for reggae music; the tremendous rage he experiences on account of police apathy upon the arson at a New Cross house party in which 13 black youngsters died; and his involvement in the furious 1981 Brixton riots – brought forth through stirring B/W photographs – which gets him arrested. And, these episodic flashbacks were counterpointed with his unlikely friendship with his cellmate – a hulking, gregarious, sympathetic bibliophile and Rastafarian (Robbie Gee) – who urges him to discover his roots by reading. While the film felt tad disjointed at times and could’ve done with deeper examinations – thus making this a relatively lesser effort in comparison – the strong performances, authentic period recreations and pulsating score made this, nevertheless, interesting.

 

 

 

 

 

Director: Steve McQueen

Genre: Drama/Biopic/Docudrama

Language: English

Country: UK

Red, White and Blue (Small Axe #3) [2020]

 After the euphoric exuberance of Lovers Rock, McQueen returned to historical drama and docu-fiction for the gripping and angry third entry in his ambitious Small Axe anthology. The pentalogy’s first entry Mangrove, in fact, formed an interesting complementary piece to this, in that both were centered on the systemic racism and bigotry within the London Police and the respective protagonists’ dare to confront that through bold, affirmative actions; however, while the former provided an outside-in view through the lens of the ‘Mangrove Nine’ victims, the latter provided an insider’s peek instead; further, instead of an ensemble approach, the POV here was tightly focussed on two men. The movie followed a few years into the life of Leroy Logan (John Boyega), son of Jamaican immigrant Ken (Steve Toussaint), who, in his fervent desire to bring changes to the cops’ treatment of ethnic minorities and immigrants, took the astoundingly courageous decision to quit a budding career as a researcher and join the force instead. A change as enormous as this, unfortunately, isn’t as easy as one dreams, and that’s something he realizes first-hand – unambiguously – once he’s inside. In a compelling parallel thread, it also deftly portrayed the deep-set antagonism and suspicion that the Black community felt towards the police, and this was especially manifested in Leroy’s complex relationship with his dad – who never feared standing up to racist bullies and even faced a vicious attack in the process – and hence found it especially unsettling when his own son crosses over to the other side and becomes a part of “them”. While a reasonably conventional film with a straight-up narrative, it gained tremendously from the superb turns by its two lead actors.

 

 

 

 

 

Director: Steve McQueen

Genre: Drama/Historical Drama/Biopic

Language: English

Country: UK

Lovers Rock (Small Axe #2) [2020]

 Lovers Rock, the magnificent second chapter in McQueen’s ‘Small Axe’ pentalogy – his politically committed anthology on Caribbean immigrants in London during the 70s and 80s – couldn’t have been more resoundingly different vis-à-vis the rousing anger of the previous movie Mangrove. Sensuous, intimate, immersive, hypnotic, exuberant and boldly dabbed with impressionistic splashes – this ravishing sensorial experience might just be the cinematic equivalent of a stream-of-consciousness novella, or perhaps more appropriately, a bluesy reggae performance with a progressive tempo played in a packed, smoky, sweat-soaked, dimly-lit space, as that’s what this rapturous film essentially was. And, what made this especially beautiful was in the way McQueen so gently but unequivocally infused stirring political contexts and undercurrents into it. The pint-sized film is centered almost completely on a house party at a Ladbroke Grove mansion, organized by and for the city’s West Indian immigrants; that they were discriminated against and often even disallowed access to most of London’s famous live-music scenes, was a key reason behind private house parties like this. The gorgeously photographed revelry witnesses a bit of everything – flirtations, teasing foreplay, romance, rivalries, dirty dancing, carefree abandon and a couple of troubling moments too; and, in the midst of these, we also joyously witness the budding love story between Martha (Amarah-Jae St. Aubyn), who belongs to an orthodox religious family, and Franklyn (Michael Ward), a blue-collar shopfloor mechanic. What, therefore, clearly underscored were the attendees’ rebellious self-expressions and craving for an illusory freedom. The film was suffused with a number of musically engrossing sequences, including the seductive rendition of Janet Kay’s ‘Silly Games’ that ends with an extended capella, and guys dancing with electrifying abandon to the Revolutionaries’ ‘Kunta Kinte’.

 

 

 

 

 

Director: Steve McQueen

Genre: Romantic Drama/Musical

Language: English

Country: UK

Mangrove (Small Axe #1) [2020]

 Steve McQueen’s terrific debut feature Hunger, where he’d chronicled IRA member Bobby Sands’ defiant protests against the British state, had established his ability to situate ‘activism filmmaking’ within a narrative framework, as did his well-received 12 Years A Slave. And all those traits – the sense of here-and-now, political contexts, anger, storytelling, etc. – were amply evident in Mangrove, the rousing and solidly made first chapter in his ambitious ‘Small Axe’ anthology. The series as a whole, and hence this film too, is centered on West Indian immigrants in 70s and 80s London. The immigrant experience, therefore, formed a vital aspect – be it their cultural distinctiveness and the desire to create a sense of community, or, for that matter, the xenophobia, prejudices and racism that they invariably encounter from those – the police, in this case – who treat them with suspicion, disdain and even systemic bigotry. The titular Mangrove was a restaurant specializing in Caribbean cuisine that Frank Crichlow (Shaun Parkes) had established in Notting Hill; it soon transitioned into a melting pot for the immigrants to drop by, hang out, create music and engage in lively political discussions; Bob Marley too was known to drop by at times. Consequently, while it became an iconic cultural institution, it also attracted harassment and raids on spurious grounds by the proudly racist cops. And, upon daring to protest, they were promptly accused of riot and violence, thus eventually leading to the landmark Mangrove Nine trials. This broad arc was enriched with striking zeitgeist and stirring undercurrents, and brought forth through excellent performances led by Parkes, Letitia Wright (as British Black Panther leader Altheia Jones-LeCointe), and Malachi Kirby (as political activist Darcus Howe).

 

 

 

 

 

Director: Steve McQueen

Genre: Drama/Courtroom Drama/Protest Film/Historical Drama

Language: English

Country: UK

Toute une Nuit [1982]

 Toute Une Nuit – Chantal Akerman’s mellifluous peek into the momentary, the ephemeral, the illusory and the transitory when it comes to romance, passion, amorous flirtations, solitary longings, heartbreaks and estrangements in their multifarious expressions – remains a beguiling interplay between minimalism and maximalism. On one hand – akin to the Belgian filmmaker’s signature formal approach – it’s muted, understated, elusive, shorn of details and expositions, and devoid of stylistic or narrative flourishes; on the other hand – and this is what possibly made this such an unconventional entry in her oeuvre – it relied heavily on precise mise-en-scène, meticulous editing and intricate narrative architecture, considering its massive ensemble cast. The resultant work – filled with a dizzying string of tantalizing vignettes – was a hypnotic symphony of fragmentary emotions covering euphoria, joy, melancholy, regrets, loneliness, ennui and banality. Set over the course of a single torrid summer night in Brussels, we witness an engrossing array of fleeting encounters and loosely strung tableaux – of strangers meeting for short drinks at taverns or aimlessly dancing to lilting music, lovers spending nights at shabby hotels only to part ways later, married couples either rejuvenating their love gone stale or deciding to move on, clandestine lovers experiencing joy or indecision, a man leaving a note under the door only to be met by his rushing sweetheart a few steps later, a disillusioned wife leaving on a whim only to return at dawn, a man sleeping alone in his decrepit apartment waiting in futility, etc. Gorgeously shot in grainy, washed out blues, and bereft of narrative contextualization and continuity, this may perhaps be best described as a succession of shorts stitched together for a whole decidedly larger than its tantalizing parts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Director: Chantal Akerman

Genre: Drama/Romantic Drama/Experimental Film

Language: French

Country: Belgium