From NYFF: ‘Lovers Rock’ is an Experience to Behold

In 2013, Steve McQueen's period-piece behemoth and eventual Academy Award Best Picture winner “12 Years A Slave” made its US premiere at the New York Film Festival (NYFF). Seven years later, McQueen has returned to the NYFF, this time for the world premiere of “Lovers Rock.” It couldn’t have come at a more unique time in the film festival circuit. McQueen’s film was an official selection at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, but COVID-19 ultimately delayed its premiere. The NYFF has also been forced into unprecedented changes, with a hybrid setup of drive-in theaters and virtual screeners.

“Lovers Rock” is one entry in a series of films titled “Small Axe,” a five-part anthology that brings underrepresented stories of the West Indian experience in Britain to screens big and small. Unlike his previous NYFF entry, McQueen’s latest film isn’t one interested in painting an epic, unflinching picture of history. Instead, McQueen tells the story of a young couple — Franklyn (Micheal Ward) and Martha (Amarah-Jae St. Aubyn) — drawn together over the course of a Blues Party in the 1980s. The film’s events unfold in one night, featuring minimal dialogue, shot almost exclusively in one location, and led by a small cast of characters in just 68 minutes. But in that ephemeral evening, McQueen crafts a self-contained film that sparks a radiant, nostalgic experience.

In a press conference moderated by the Director of Programming at the Film Society of Lincoln Center (and a Visiting Lecturer in Harvard’s AFVS department) Dennis Lim, McQueen commented on the sparse use of dialogue in “Lovers Rock.” “It was more [about] moods. More about the senses,” he said.

That commitment to capturing "moods" is clearly on display with the film’s gorgeous cinematography. Director of Photographer Shabier Kirchner uses a saturated, almost amber color palette that lends an effusive glow to the film. He also plays with the role of the camera as a participant: at times, the camera is passive, like a distant and static observer. In those moments, it’s easy to feel like you’re a fly on the wall — lucky to happen into the company of a burgeoning party scene. In others, Kirchner uses a handheld camera and films close-ups of the characters, cranking down the frame rate to stimulate inebriation. The result is an intimacy so vivid it’s almost tactile.

McQueen also sprinkles the film with subtle clues that hint at a larger social commentary. Characters frequently code switch — adapting their way of speaking to their surroundings, personal and professional. In a press conference, McQueen described that relationship as “very colonial.”

An unnamed character is also seen carrying a large white cross in the dead of night, which he picks up again in his next appearance at the end of the film (in the morning). It’s a striking visual and a deft reminder that, even after this night of revelry, the realities of colonialism and White racial hegemony persist. These deeper questions are often brushed aside, more integral to McQueen's thematic worldbuilding in "Small Axe" than strictly to the plot of "Lovers Rock."

“Lovers Rock” can also get carried away with itself. While McQueen was able to craft a poignant film in just over an hour, there were also scenes that could have been shortened without detracting from the overall experience. For instance, McQueen shows the entirety of a largely unedited, improvised a cappella session that seems slightly off-kilter from the film’s main narrative.

Despite these brief moments of overindulgence, McQueen’s film is a triumph in visual and sensorial storytelling. While only 68 minutes, “Lovers Rock” manages to linger much longer than its runtime suggests — vivifying a snapshot in history with contagious enthusiasm behind the camera for the cultural significance, and personal memories, of stories longing to be told.

—Staff writer Lanz Aaron G. Tan can be reached at lanzaaron.tan@thecrimson.com and on twitter @LanzAaronGTan1.