X
  • 2020
  • TV-MA
  • Amazon Prime Video
  • 1 h 6 m
  • 2020
  • TV-MA
  • Amazon Prime Video
  • 1 h 6 m
Small Axe: Alex Wheatle

Summary Alex Wheatle follows the true story of award-winning writer, Alex Wheatle (Sheyi Cole), from a young boy through his early adult years. Having spent his childhood in a mostly white institutional care home with no love or family, he finally finds not only a sense of community for the first time in Brixton, but his identity and ability to ...

Directed By: Steve McQueen

Written By: Alastair Siddons, Steve McQueen, Rebecca Lenkiewicz

  • 2020
  • TV-MA
  • Amazon Prime Video
  • 1 h 6 m
  • 2020
  • TV-MA
  • Amazon Prime Video
  • 1 h 6 m

Small Axe: Alex Wheatle

Metascore Generally Favorable Based on 18 Critic Reviews
77
User Score Generally Favorable Based on 17 User Ratings
6.1
My Score
Hover and click to give a rating Saved

Summary Alex Wheatle follows the true story of award-winning writer, Alex Wheatle (Sheyi Cole), from a young boy through his early adult years. Having spent his childhood in a mostly white institutional care home with no love or family, he finally finds not only a sense of community for the first time in Brixton, but his identity and ability to ...

Directed By: Steve McQueen

Written By: Alastair Siddons, Steve McQueen, Rebecca Lenkiewicz

Top Cast

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Critic Reviews

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Metascore
Generally Favorable Based on 18 Critic Reviews
77
89% Positive
16 Reviews
11% Mixed
2 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews

Critic Reviews

 View All
Metascore
Generally Favorable Based on 18 Critic Reviews
77
89% Positive
16 Reviews
11% Mixed
2 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews
100
Dec 6, 2020
Remarkably, this is Cole's first time in front of the camera. He approaches Alex’s emotional journey as a teenager with a sure touch, switching effortlessly between innocence and a gradual hardening.
By Lucy Popescu FULL REVIEW
88
Dec 10, 2020
Reggae music is a through line in almost all five installments of Steve McQueen’s Small Axe anthology, but in Alex Wheatle, it’s a lifeline.
By Josh Larsen FULL REVIEW
80
Dec 11, 2020
“Alex Wheatle” is like a sketch for the biopic it might have been, but by the end you feel you’ve glimpsed the key fragment of a life.
By Owen Gleiberman FULL REVIEW
75
Dec 14, 2020
Even as a standalone feature, this installment falters by keeping its main character at arm’s length. We never get close enough to Alex Wheatle to feel as if we know him. Despite my mild dissatisfaction, I believe that distancing is on purpose, a part of the film’s design.
By Odie Henderson FULL REVIEW
75
Nov 29, 2020
It’s not episodic, but feels more like the first act of a larger story begging for further exploration. Nevertheless, with a complex, ever-evolving turn by newcomer Sheyi Cole at its center, the story it does offer up turns on McQueen’s usual sophisticated narrative techniques and the same striking penchant to render Black British culture in complex lyrical terms.
By Eric Kohn FULL REVIEW
70
Dec 9, 2020
Alex Wheatle plays like a conventional coming-of-age story, of sorts, but the film is a fitting addition to Small Axe, rounding out a picture of young manhood and serving up powerful images of isolation and courage.
By Alissa Wilkinson FULL REVIEW
58
Nov 30, 2020
Alex Wheatle combines the relevant themes that guide the prior “Small Axe” installments: music as an escape from one’s environment, police brutality, and a character adrift from his community — yet the writing struggles to connect the major plot points for big picture interpretations of Alex’s cultural self-education.
By Robert Daniels FULL REVIEW

User Reviews

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User Score
Generally Favorable Based on 17 User Ratings
6.1
47% Positive
8 Ratings
41% Mixed
7 Ratings
12% Negative
2 Ratings

User Reviews

 View All
User Score
Generally Favorable Based on 17 User Ratings
6.1
47% Positive
8 Ratings
41% Mixed
7 Ratings
12% Negative
2 Ratings

There are no user reviews yet. Be the first to add a review.

Details

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Production Company BBC Film, British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Turbine Studios, Lammas Park, EMU Films, BBC Studios Distribution, Six Temple Productions
Release Date Dec 11, 2020
Duration 1 h 6 m
Rating TV-MA
Genres
Website https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000q6rf
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