Alex Wheatle

A fantastic entry that suffers from being part of a bigger anthology. The story and acting here meet the high quality of the first episode, Mangrove, but it just doesn't go on long enough to fully explore all its themes. From small characterizations to more giant leaps, I wish the story had another 45 minutes to an hour to settle and tell the amazing story that's there. First time acting here by Sheyi Cole is fantastic though and sells the fish out of water story and the transformation.

Kind overlaps the previous three films in the series, while winking at the following one. Having no knowledge of the real life figure, I found the reveal at the end to be quite unexpected and forced. I imagine researching Wheatle before hand might make this a more rewarding and insightful watch.

Middling series entry is reasonably effective at providing a portrait of police and institutional violence that ultimately leads to radicalization, but most of the material here feels like a hodge podge mix of themes and ideas already covered in the previous chapters; fine performances as is now becoming the custom, but a little too flat and obvious.

Pretty straightforward coming of age biopic, but still rewarding in the way depicts UK wicked 80s and the story of a young boy dealing with the lack of memory of his past and trying to move on.

A bit too short to fully develop its characters and themes, but enjoyable nonetheless.

The weakest link in 'Small Ax', but still quite good.

Viewed January 27, 2021.