Bob Marley: One Love
Another musical biopic hits the multiplex, albeit a rather muddled, lacklustre portrait of the reggae singer.
Kingsley Ben-Adir and Lashana Lynch as Bob and Rita Marley
The two most dramatic moments of Reinaldo Marcus Green’s biopic are the opening and closing captions. Emerging from a nation riven by violence, Bob Marley united a people through the power of his music – along with a seemingly endless supply of ganja. As rival parties fought for political control in Jamaica, Marley’s music brought a surge of unification and hope. Quite what informed his songwriting process is not made clear here, while much of the dialogue will prove indecipherable to non-Jamaican ears. In the film’s favour is a charismatic turn from the London-born Kingsley Ben-Adir (who has previously played Malcolm X and Barack Obama on screen), although he’s almost a head taller than Marley (well, 6½ inches taller), while the natural beauty of Jamaica provides additional eye candy.
The problem is that the four credited scriptwriters have failed to forge a sufficiently compelling storyline out of the musician’s flight from Jamaica and his sojourn in Europe. While there’s plenty of arresting period detail and authentic production design, it’s not enough to propel the film forwards in any meaningful way, with many scenes popping up as isolated incidents without any narrative function. At best, it feels like a behind-the-scenes slice-of-lifer – akin to Jean-Luc Godard’s take on The Rolling Stones with Sympathy for the Devil (1968) – dotted with repetitious flashbacks.
There’s plenty of Bob Marley’s hits – ‘I Shot the Sheriff’, ‘No Woman, No Cry,’ ‘One Love' – convincingly lip-synced by Ben-Adir, along with the resonant support of his band, The Wailers. A highlight is the inspiration for his gold-selling 1977 album Exodus, inspired by the soundtrack of the film of the same name. More of the same would have been most welcome.
As Marley’s long-suffering wife Rita (who is also a producer of the film), Lashana Lynch provides some emotional traction, although it’s not entirely clear where all of Marley’s children are coming from (he fathered eleven in all, the scrutiny of which would’ve made a very different movie). One senses that Bob Marley: One Love is treading a little too cautiously on the legacy of its subject, hardly surprising since the film is produced by Marley’s widow, son and daughter. Obviously, the function of the film is to spread the love of Jamaica’s greatest icon, whatever the cost to the drama to the film.
JAMES CAMERON-WILSON
Cast: Kingsley Ben-Adir, Lashana Lynch, James Norton, Tosin Cole, Umi Myers, Anthony Welsh, Nia Ashi, Aston Barrett Jr., Anna-Sharé Blake, Gawaine ‘J-Summa’ Campbell, Naomi Cowan, Alexx A-Game, Michael Gandolfini.
Dir Reinaldo Marcus Green, Pro Robert Teitel, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Ziggy Marley, Rita Marley and Cedella Marley, Screenplay Terence Winter, Frank E. Flowers, Zach Baylin and Reinaldo Marcus Green, Ex Pro Brad Pitt, Ph Robert Elswit, Pro Des Chris Lowe, Ed Pamela Martin, Music Kris Bowers, Costumes Anna B. Sheppard, Sound James Mather, Dialect coach Fae A. Ellington.
Plan B Entertainment/State Street Pictures/Tuff Gong Pictures-Paramount Pictures.
103 mins. USA. 2024. UK and US Rel: 14 February 2024. Cert. 12A.
