News & Interviews for Mangrove

Small Axe Director Steve McQueen: “It Doesn’t Matter Where You’re From, You Can Identify With These As Human Stories”

Small Axe Stars Letitia Wright, Shaun Parkes, And More On the Power of Steve McQueen’s Vision

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Audience Reviews for Mangrove: Season 1

• Dec 17, 2021

  It started out a kind of earnest, self-consciously important film, but I was drawn into the story of racial conflict and the courtroom drama was superbly well-done.
  
• Jun 26, 2021

  Mangrove reads similarly to Bigelow's Detroit in many ways. Both showcase police brutality and racism across a similar time period (1965-1970) in the Western world, and feature courtroom politics. The difference lies in location, characters, and outcome. Mangrove employs enough characterisation and contemporary cultural input to transcend its rather familiar storyline in favour of transmitting an immensely engrossing viewing experience. Every main performance is superb, from Parkes to Wright. The white characters are primarily racist caricatures (although likely accurate to the social landscape of the time), played well enough to be dislikable. The departures from this mould enhance the impact of the resolution, though. The editing and camera work was noticeably brilliant. Some of the transitions brought an air of gusto and artistry without ever bridging the gap to pretentiousness. With a story worth telling, McQueen again cements his status as one of the most talented directors working today.
  Ethan T
• Jun 22, 2021

  Small axe empezó fuerte y mucho
• Apr 27, 2021

  Part of 5 movies in the series called Small Axe directed by Steve McQueen. The movie was about the Mangrove Nine trial in London, 9 African-Caribbean who were accused of inciting violence in a protest against police harassment to the community. The Trial of Chicago 7, which was also about a trial, was dynamic and fast-paced. Mangrove, on the other hand, was slower, but spent more time on the characters' speeches and dialogues. The plot was straightforward, so the quality depended entirely on the actors' performances. And I was thoroughly amazed and enjoyed the passionate acting from everyone in the movie. Also notable was the camera work. There were a couple of scenes where after the event ended, the screen lingered on an object or people for a long time to prolong the effect of the events. As for problems, the character Frank Crichlow was supposed to be the main focus. However, the other characters were those that had the moments in the movie, and Frank didn't really get his big moment as a main character. Overall, despite the plot being nothing new, the passionate performance from the solid cast reemphasized the harsh and unjust treatment from the broken system against the black communities. 8.5/10
• Mar 24, 2021

  Awesome performances and an excellent historical account.
• Mar 11, 2021

  Although repetitive in it's long speeches it offers a fresh look at an old subject.
  
• Mar 08, 2021

  It's a shame Shaun Parkes won't win an Oscar for his performance in Mangrove. Never mind the fact the entirety of the performance is mesmerizing, but the man deserves a statue for the single shot that remains on his Frank Crichlow as the jury reads their verdicts for both him and the remainder of the Mangrove Nine. It's astonishing, breathtaking, and all the adjectives that might hope to accurately describe the greatness that can't truly be captured with words. Chronicling the first judicial acknowledgment of behavior motivated by racial hatred within the Metropolitan Police, Mangrove is every bit as much a call for justice as it is a commentary on the explicit inequalities of the world. Despite being one part of a larger series, Mangrove conveys its vitality with the quality and skill of any other Steve McQueen film. The cast is first-rate, the period detail is on point, and as much is true with every other contributing department, but it's the antithetical tone of the environment within Crichlow's Mangrove restaurant that populate the first half of the film and that of the tone inside the courtroom throughout the second half of the film that is most effective in defining McQueen's central thesis which is more a question posing why it's so hard for those with all to make room for others with less.
  Super Reviewer
• Feb 12, 2021

  I'm sure it has it's audience. I did not find it captivating enough to hold my interest. I'm not a big fan of many of these movies that zoom in on everything. They make me dizzy.
• Feb 08, 2021

  Good work by Steve McQueen again. Good concept, good execution.
• Feb 04, 2021

  Very, very basic civil rights fare. Complete with plenty of grandstanding, righteous freakouts and soulless bad guys. Even agreeing with most of it however, won't stop me from commenting on how uninspired it seemed. Certainly no 7 Years A Slave, much less Hunger.