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Lovers Rock

  • Episode aired Nov 27, 2020
  • TV-MATV-MA
  • 1h 10m
IMDb RATING
7.5/10
4.9K
YOUR RATING
Lovers Rock (2020)
'Lovers Rock' is the second in a collection of five films by Steve McQueen inspired by real-life events about ordinary people showing courage, belief, and resilience to overcome injustice and achieve something transformative in their West Indian community.
Play trailer0:30
3 Videos
19 Photos
DramaHistory
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.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.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.
IMDb RATING
7.5/10
4.9K
YOUR RATING
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Director
      • Steve McQueen
    • Writers
      • Steve McQueen(story by)
      • Courttia Newland(screenplay by)
      • Rebecca Lenkiewicz(lead writer)
    • Stars
      • Dennis Bovell
      • Saffron Coomber
      • Frankie Fox
    Top credits
    • Director
      • Steve McQueen
    • Writers
      • Steve McQueen(story by)
      • Courttia Newland(screenplay by)
      • Rebecca Lenkiewicz(lead writer)
    • Stars
      • Dennis Bovell
      • Saffron Coomber
      • Frankie Fox
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 35User reviews
    • 51Critic reviews
    • 95Metascore

    Videos3

    'Lovers Rock" Trailer
    Trailer 0:30
    'Lovers Rock" Trailer
    Small Axe: Lovers Rock
    Trailer 0:25
    Small Axe: Lovers Rock
    Small Axe: Inside Lovers Rock
    Featurette 3:54
    Small Axe: Inside Lovers Rock

    Photos19

    Lovers Rock (2020)
    Romario Simpson in Lovers Rock (2020)
    Micheal Ward in Lovers Rock (2020)
    Amarah-Jae St. Aubyn and Micheal Ward in Lovers Rock (2020)
    Kadeem Ramsay and Alexander James-Blake in Lovers Rock (2020)
    Jermaine Freeman and Saffron Coomber in Lovers Rock (2020)
    Micheal Ward in Lovers Rock (2020)
    Amarah-Jae St. Aubyn and Micheal Ward in Lovers Rock (2020)
    Amarah-Jae St. Aubyn and Shaniqua Okwok in Lovers Rock (2020)
    Amarah-Jae St. Aubyn and Micheal Ward in Lovers Rock (2020)
    Francis Lovehall and Ellis George in Lovers Rock (2020)
    Amarah-Jae St. Aubyn and Micheal Ward in Lovers Rock (2020)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Dennis Bovell
    • Milton
    Saffron Coomber
    Saffron Coomber
    • Grace
    Frankie Fox
    Frankie Fox
    • Eddie Marks
    Daniel Francis-Swaby
    Daniel Francis-Swaby
    • Bammy
    Marcus Fraser
    Marcus Fraser
    • Jabba
    Jermaine Freeman
    • Skinner
    Ellis George
    • Cynthia
    Alexander James-Blake
    • Parker B
    Francis Lovehall
    Francis Lovehall
    • Reggie
    Shaniqua Okwok
    Shaniqua Okwok
    • Patty
    Kadeem Ramsay
    Kadeem Ramsay
    • Samson
    Amarah-Jae St. Aubyn
    Amarah-Jae St. Aubyn
    • Martha
    Kedar Williams-Stirling
    Kedar Williams-Stirling
    • Clifton
    Romario Simpson
    Romario Simpson
    • Lizard
    Micheal Ward
    Micheal Ward
    • Franklyn
    Tremayne Watson
    • Party goer
    • (uncredited)
    • Director
      • Steve McQueen
    • Writers
      • Steve McQueen(story by) (screenplay by)
      • Courttia Newland(screenplay by)
      • Rebecca Lenkiewicz(lead writer)
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      The a cappella scene set to "Silly Games" wasn't scripted to last 10 minutes but the cast's enthusiasm and joy meant that it carried on a lot longer than intended.
    • Quotes

      Samson: With the sounds of Mercury Sound! The best in the town! Put a smile on everybody's faces, no frowns! No!

    • Connections
      Featured in The Story of Film: A New Generation (2021)
    • Soundtracks
      Silly Games
      (uncredited)

      Written by Dennis Bovell

      Performed by cast

    User reviews35

    Review
    Review
    Top review
    10/10
    Silly games made fresh
    What do you do when you can dance and sing and play like no one is watching? What happens when you can just be with everyone in a room gproving and grinding and feeling free to music? Or for that matter being free? (I know Josh Larsen of Filmspotting already made this observation, but hey, I can make it as well).

    What I love so much about Steve McQueen as a communicator as much as an artist is that, while he can tell a good story, he is most concerned with expressing through his camera and the people he casts and how long he keeps on a shot a feeling, and many times it's a sustained mood and expression of pathos. You have the tension of a very long conversation like the 16 minute shot in Hunger, or when we see Michael Fassbender is in agonizing sexual pain on his face after having sex for hours on end, or keeping on that torturous display of Solomon hanging and barely being kept alive while people go on with their business. But rarely have we seen McQueen show total joy and peace, yet it's something he shows he knows how to present and then some in Lover's Rock as everyone sways to the steady love anthem "Silly Games" and then breaks out into singing it for what feels like ten minutes (maybe shorter, could've gone on longer).

    I can't be the only one who broke out in tears during the scene, no? Maybe it's seeing this following such a wretched many months to a year where (having common sense) being able to have this kind of intense connective experience is impossible. Or it is simply that McQueen understands and knows how to depict that wave of rapture that can take over people, and this goes beyond race though it is absolutely a filmmaker representing a people who rarely get to see this on screen, and that it can be overwhelming for the senses. I often find as I get older I tear up more at seeing pure, unadulterated kindness, and this is like that: everyone, for this night and with these DJs and this groove, can be OK and in love with one another and have that special emotion one gets when singing along to a song. I'll even get more high and mighty: It's... A cinematic moment that is good for the soul.

    This doesn't mean Lovers Rock isn't, or isn't just, about seeing people dance in a room, though McQueen does eschew traditional A-B-C storytelling to give us two young women who go to this house party and things just... Happen, good and bad. There is politics to this as well, sexual politics, how a man will mistreat a woman and how women stand up for their fellow woman or a man might for a woman and that intense, eons-deep reaction where two men in the thick of it butt heads (there isn't violence like fists thrown, but it comes close to that, an emotional violence simmering). And at one point when an altercation by a front door seems about to happen, and a cop car rolls by and so one man practically throws the other into the house to tell him to shut the F up, that feeling McQueen has been showing us is revealed to be kind of tenuous; there is freedom, but it could all crumble with one dumb or even accidental moment.

    Lovers Rock doesn't reveal its greatness all at once, and at first you may wonder what is the point of showing us a long, Cannabis-fueled party... But by "Silly Games" it's clear this is a mini master's class in how cinema can be raw, sensual, vibrant and cool, or how it should be that from time to time.
    helpful•4
    1
    • Quinoa1984
    • Jan 1, 2021

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • November 27, 2020 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United Kingdom
    • Official site
      • BBC Programmes
    • Language
      • English
    • Production companies
      • British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
      • BBC Film
      • Turbine Studios
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 10 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.78 : 1

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