Small Axe | |
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Genre | Drama |
Created by | Steve McQueen |
Written by |
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Directed by | Steve McQueen |
Composer | Mica Levi |
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
Original language | English |
No. of series | 1 |
No. of episodes | 5 (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Executive producers |
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Producers |
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Cinematography | Shabier Kirchner |
Editors |
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Running time | 405 minutes |
Production companies |
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Original release | |
Network | BBC One |
Release | 15 November – 13 December 2020 |
Small Axe is a British anthology film series, created and directed by Steve McQueen. The anthology consists of five films that tell distinct stories about the lives of West Indian immigrants in London from the 1960s to the 1980s. [1] Two episodes of the series were selected into the 2020 Cannes Film Festival. The series premiered on 15 November 2020 on BBC One in the United Kingdom and on 20 November 2020 on Amazon Prime Video in the United States. [2] [3] [4] The title references a proverb – "Small axe fall big tree" or "If you are the big tree, we are the small axe" – that was popularised by Bob Marley in his 1973 song "Small Axe". [5]
Episode | Title | Director | Screenwriters | UK release date [6] | US release date [7] | Runtime |
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1 | Mangrove | Steve McQueen | McQueen and Alastair Siddons | 15 November 2020 | 20 November 2020 | 128 min. |
2 | Lovers Rock | McQueen and Courttia Newland | 22 November 2020 | 27 November 2020 | 68 min. | |
3 | Red, White, and Blue | 29 November 2020 | 4 December 2020 | 80 min. | ||
4 | Alex Wheatle | McQueen and Alastair Siddons | 6 December 2020 | 11 December 2020 | 66 min. | |
5 | Education | 13 December 2020 | 18 December 2020 | 63 min. |
It has been reported that Steve McQueen began working on the idea for Small Axe in 2010, and that some form of the series was in development since 2012. [8] [9] While the series was initially conceived as a conventional television series with a serialized story, McQueen realized during development that he had sufficient material to make several distinct films. [9] In January 2014, it was announced that he would write and direct an untitled television series for either BBC One or BBC Two about the experience of black people in Britain. [10] In August 2015, it was announced that the series would air on BBC One. [11] In June 2019, Amazon Prime Video was announced to be distributing the series in the United States, with Amazon Studios co-producing. [12] The screenwriters include the British-Caribbean novelist Courttia Newland (author of The Gospel According to Cane, 2013) and Alastair Siddons. [9]
In June 2019, it was announced that Letitia Wright, John Boyega, Malachi Kirby, Shaun Parkes, Rochenda Sandall, Alex Jennings, and Jack Lowden had joined the cast of the series. [13] In January 2020, Micheal Ward joined the cast of the series. [14]
Lovers Rock had its world premiere as the opener of the 58th New York Film Festival on 17 September 2020. [15] [16] [17] Mangrove had its world premiere at the festival on 25 September, [18] [19] and Red, White, and Blue on 3 October. [20] Mangrove also opened the 64th BFI London Film Festival on 7 October 2020; [21] Lovers Rock screened at the same festival on 18 October. [22] [23]
The series premiered in the UK on BBC One on 15 November 2020 and in the United States on Amazon Prime Video on 20 November 2020, with one episode released per week on both platforms. [4] [24]
The series received a Blu-Ray release by The Criterion Collection on April 25, 2023. The release includes the five films, plus interviews and conversations with director Steve McQueen and cast/crew members, the 2021 documentary Uprising (codirected by McQueen and James Rogan), trailers, and an essay by Ashley Clark. [25]
Critical press reviews of each individual film were positive. All five films received approval ratings of at least 95% on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, while Metacritic assigned four of the five a score indicating "universal acclaim".
Lovers Rock , in particular, was named the best film of 2020 by the British film magazine Sight & Sound in its poll of 104 critics worldwide; Mangrove came in at 13th. [26]
Film | Rotten Tomatoes rating | Metacritic rating |
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Mangrove | 99% approval (8.79/10 average) [27] | 90 (27 critics) [28] |
Lovers Rock | 98% approval (8.82/10 average) [29] | 95 (27 critics) [30] |
Red, White and Blue | 97% approval (8.31/10 average) [31] | 84 (18 critics) [32] |
Alex Wheatle | 97% approval (7.35/10 average) [33] | 77 (17 critics) [34] |
Education | 95% approval (7.94/10 average) [35] | 87 (15 critics) [36] |
Sir Steve Rodney McQueen is a British film director, film producer, screenwriter, and video artist. For services to the visual arts, he was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2011. In 2014, he was included in Time magazine's annual Time 100 list of the "most influential people in the world". He has received an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards and in 2016 the BFI Fellowship.
Alex Michael Jennings is an English actor of the stage and screen, who worked extensively with the Royal Shakespeare Company and National Theatre. For his work on the London stage, Jennings received three Olivier Awards, winning for Too Clever by Half (1988), Peer Gynt (1996), and My Fair Lady (2003). He is the only performer to have won Olivier awards in the drama, musical, and comedy categories.
Micaela Rachel Levi, known professionally as Mica Levi or by their stage name Micachu, is an English musician, composer, producer, singer and songwriter.
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The Mangrove Nine were a group of British Black activists tried for inciting a riot at a 1970 protest against the police targeting of The Mangrove, a Caribbean restaurant in Notting Hill, West London. Their trial lasted 55 days and involved various challenges by the Nine to the legitimacy of the British judicial process. They were all acquitted of the most serious charges and the trial became the first judicial acknowledgement of behaviour motivated by racial hatred within the Metropolitan Police.
Malachi Kirby is a British actor and writer. He gained prominence through his roles in the 2016 Roots remake and the Black Mirror episode "Men Against Fire". He won a BAFTA for his performance in Small Axe: Mangrove (2020).
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Mangrove is a 2020 historical drama film directed by British director Steve McQueen and co-written by McQueen and Alastair Siddons, about the Mangrove restaurant in west London and the 1971 trial of the Mangrove Nine. It stars Letitia Wright, Shaun Parkes, Malachi Kirby, Rochenda Sandall, Alex Jennings and Jack Lowden.
Alex Wheatle is a 2020 historical drama film directed by Steve McQueen and co-written by McQueen and Alastair Siddons. It stars Sheyi Cole as Alex Wheatle, a Black British novelist who was sentenced to a term of imprisonment after the 1981 Brixton uprising. The film was released as part of the anthology series Small Axe on BBC One on 6 December 2020 and on Amazon Prime Video on 11 December 2020.
Education is a 2020 drama film directed by Steve McQueen and co-written by McQueen and Alastair Siddons. The film was released as part of the anthology series Small Axe on BBC One on 13 December 2020, in the Netherlands on 16 December 2020, and on Amazon Prime Video on 18 December 2020.
Red, White and Blue is a 2020 historical drama film directed by Steve McQueen and co-written by McQueen and Courttia Newland. It stars John Boyega as Leroy Logan, an officer in the London Metropolitan Police who founded the Black Police Association and attempted to reform the police force from within. The film was released as part of the anthology series Small Axe on BBC One on 29 November 2020, and released on Amazon Prime Video on 4 December 2020. It premiered as an opening film at the 58th New York Film Festival on 24 September 2020.
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