Lovers Rock [sic] was a small British record label founded in the mid-70s, though the name also became synonymous with the label’s brand of romantic, R&B-inflected reggae. According to the interviewees in this conventional documentary, the music inspired black British youth to create a warm, inclusive subculture that thrived into the early 80s. The movie is most interesting when it contrasts the music’s positive message with the negative experiences common to black youth at the time (the 1981 Brixton riots are a frequent point of reference). Unfortunately such insights are all but absent from the final half hour, when the documentary devolves into a series of lightweight anecdotes about record sales and touring. Menelik Shabazz directed.
The Story of Lover’s Rock
NR • 1 hour 36 min