Cinema and Sound, curated by Mark Jenkin

Small Axe: Lovers Rock

+ intro by Yassmin V. Foster, Senior Lecturer and Researcher in Dance, Media and Archives

The jubilant high point of Steve McQueen’s Small Axe series recreates the blossoming romance between two people attending a house party in West London at the start of the 1980s.

  • Director

    Steve McQueen

  • With

    Micheal Ward, Amarah-Jae St Aubyn

  • BBC 2020. 70min

  • Digital

  • Certificate

    15

It’s not just the diegetic soundtrack that drives this film’s mood and narrative. It’s the room tones – the reverb on the music and the mix. It’s the differing sounds in the same space when it goes from empty to full, and most notably when a room pulsing with music transitions to that of only human voices. No doubt, the production design evokes an era, but it is sound that communicates the specific atmosphere of that time.

See other screenings of Small Axe: Lovers Rock.

Small Axe: Lovers Rock screens as part of a programme exploring sound and image, curated by Mark Jenkin and tying in with the release of Rose of Nevada.