SMALL AXE: LOVERS ROCK (2020), Dir. by Steve McQueen

If you want to understand the close-up, aside from the films of Bergman-Nykvist or Carl Th. Dreyer, I'd recommend LOVERS ROCK. Shot 90% in cinema's most magical framing, the camera unlocks something ineffable about its characters through simple tracking of the way body parts move in space (hips, hands, feet, and of course, occasional seductive glances). Frenetic handheld movement opens up the cramped space established in the opening scenes into a massive expanse bursting with life.

Ironically enough, despite the fact that we rarely sit 10 inches from another human’s face in real everyday life (and even when we do, our eyes have yet to develop a macro focus function), we often screen-cap our favourite memories in our minds as tightly framed close ups: and here lies the brilliance of LOVERS ROCK. Its cinematography serves not just as a function for transporting us into the world of the 1980s London reggae scene, but as a means of instilling nostalgia into the audience’s brain for the coolest party they’d never gone to.