On February 15, 2024, audiences were treated to a cultural extravaganza as iconic films such as “Bob Marley: One Love” and “Madame Web” graced the silver screen.
BOB MARLEY: ONE LOVE
Paramount Pictures
Released Wednesday 14 February
Synopsis: Jamaican singer-songwriter Bob Marley overcomes adversity to become the most famous reggae musician in the world.
Cast: Kingsley Ben-Adir, Lashana Lynch, James Norton
Director: Reinaldo Marcus Green
Cert: 12A
FAB UK Review:
his film has received less than mixed reviews and one can see why.
Bob Marley, was, and still is, a very popular and famous figure, known throughout the world then, and still now, 40 years after his death. But this film doesn’t give us this, it doesn’t convey the grand magnitude this one man has/had in the cultural milieu.
The film covers a period that spans from 1976, when political unrest in Jamaica boiled over and Marley narrowly survived an attempt on his life, through his time based in punk-era London where he recorded the seminal album Exodus, to his return to Jamaica in 1978 for the One Love peace concert. So yes, only two years of his life. We don’t really get to know how he became who he became (though there are flashbacks to his youth) – in the way Baz Luhrmsnn gave us the full narrative of Elvis Presley in his movie from last year ‘Elvis’ , ‘Marley One Love’ Director Reinaldo Marcus Green gives us a very expedited biopic. While Kingsley Ben-Adir is adequate enough in the main role, some scenes look too staged, the relationship with his wife and kids is too thinly drawn, and at the end there are very few emotional hills and valleys that most biopics provide that leaves you with the feeling you’ve just been on a journey about someone’s historical and meaningful life. The worst of all is that Marley died at such a very young age (36) in 1981.
MADAME WEB
Sony Pictures
Released Wednesday 14 February
Synopsis: Cassandra Webb is a New York City paramedic who starts to show signs of clairvoyance. Forced to confront revelations about her past, she must protect three young women from a mysterious adversary who wants them dead.
Cast: Dakota Johnson
Director: S.J. Clarkson
Cert: 12A
Also released this week:
LES MISERABLES (RE-ISSUE)
Universal Pictures
Release date: Friday 16 February | Cert: 12
SOMEONE’S DAUGHTER, SOMEONE’S SON
Dartmouth Films
Release date: Friday 16 February | Cert: 15
By: Leia Foote