For distraction, I
deliberately went movie-going on Valentine's Day to
avoid the reality of the recent loss of my soulmate of fifty years.
Happily enough, it was the first day release of biofilm "Bob Marley:One
Love." A recommend!! Bigtime! Firstly, hearing superb reggae
played in a good theatre sound system will lift anyone's spirits, it's
built into the very construct of reggae. Like African-American gospel,
it lifts you up musically before any singer even opens his or her mouth.
I
was a
trifle hesitant about the lead Kingsley Ben-Adir beforehand since he
has absolutely zero resemblance to Marley, but his natural sense of
command, musical performing style and ease in conveying creativity won
me over. His acting for the writing of the song "Exodus" is a marvel. It's hard to convey "creativity" in films because the act of thinking usually is not very cinematic. Jeffrey Wright's depiction in "Basquiat" worked, and Bob Dylan in Scorsese's "No Direction Home"
doc where he stops in front of some random
poster and starts lyrically riffing on its contents is fun insight into
how artists create. Few other scenes in all of moviedom come to mind.
More pluses-- "One Love's" Rita
Marley actress Lashana Lynch is nothing short of phenomenal, completely
inhabiting the character. Without any stylization of same, she is the
Greek chorus reminding the protagonist of hidden adversities, as well as
his living inspiration in addition to his spiritual ones (or as Harvey
quipped, "Keith to his Mick.") Also, the montages of the eventual
success of
The Wailers has a few LOLs for observant, longtime reggae followers:
note a photo op with a Mick Jagger lookalike!
Old
home week subjectivity: I recognized a
lot of names in the credits of people I worked with in 1976 writing my
book "Rastaman Vibration: Bob Marley & The Wailers," like Island's
music true believer and promotional whiz Jeff
Walker. His wife Kim Gottlieb provided the book's wonderful photos she
had taken in Jamaica of Bob, his
family and the band. Island admitted they were puzzled about new
audiences' initial hesitance for reggae in the U.S.A. African American
music fans of the '70s seemed to prefer their music heroes to be
glitzily successful like Lionel Richie and Diana Ross, not hardscrabble
Trenchtown. So Island suggested to try appealing to college audiences,
whose very job it used to be to embrace the new. And I did: I was the
first to find and write of the tie in to Rastafarianism in the works of
Kurt Vonnegut, who was the national darling of college readers
everywhere at that time. Even if it was Vonnegut's signature morbid
satire, hey, any bridge in a storm!
I
quite like that the film is doing so well in its initial release,
particularly for a music biopic. Most reviews have been snobby, such as
"People" magazine's accusation that it plays it too safe. "One Love" is
important as well as entertaining: it is this current generation's
mainstream introduction to the legend behind the cool music they've
heard all their lives. As such, it's a very good narrative depiction.
Marley really did come from nowhere, really was that prolific (than
goodness, given his short life) and really did beat the odds in
inventing a sea change in popular music, fashioning a regional variation
on Motown R&B into the gold standard of World Music, beloved to
everybody all over the globe. Because to hear reggae music for the first
time is to love and embrace it. Thank Bob!
