Bob Marley: One Love

The film covers Bob Marley from his rise in the mid-seventies to his death in 1981. At its centre is the 1976 Smile Jamaica concert, played days after an assassination attempt that targeted him and members of his band. Then come the Exodus sessions in London and the return to Jamaica, closing at the One Love Peace Concert. Reinaldo Marcus Green directed. Kingsley Ben-Adir plays Marley and Lashana Lynch plays his wife Rita, with James Norton as Chris Blackwell. The producers include the family itself: his son Ziggy Marley and his widow Rita Marley. The screenplay is the work of several writers including Zach Baylin and Terence Winter. It grossed 181 million dollars worldwide with an A CinemaScore from audiences. The reviews did not follow. Rotten Tomatoes sits at 43 percent, and one critic put it this way: Kingsley Ben-Adir does an admirable job in the central role, but the film is ultimately a standard biopic. Who it is for: people who love Marley's music and want the concert sequences. Who it is not for: anyone wanting a real portrait. Having the family in the producer's chair seems to have decided where the film does not look.