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Marley (15)

Documentary, Biography, Music

A documentary on the life, music, and legacy of Bob Marley.

More information on this production is available at www.marleyuk.com.

The critical consensus

Every second is earned in Macdonald’s long, generous and rigorously detailed Bob doc. You might wish for more live material but what’s here is stirring, probing and moving.

****(*)Kevin Harley, Total Film, 10/04/2012

Macdonald makes his documentary sing.

****(*)Siobhan Synnot, The Scotsman, 17/04/2012

Bob Marley emerges as an almost Napoleonic figure in Kevin Macdonald's passionate but partisan documentary.

****(*)Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian, 19/04/2012

Remarkable man, fitting documentary.

****(*)Alison Rowat, The Herald, 19/04/2012

In the end, it’s just good, comprehensive storytelling, a film that justifies the legend rather than hypes it.

****(*)The Scotsman, 19/04/2012

A masterful doc to rival Macdonald's Touching The Void.

*****Eve Barlow, Empire Online, 16/04/2012

A fascinating and occasionally moving insight that humanises a legend.

Matt Bochenski, Little White Lies, 19/04/2012

The scale of his charisma is shocking.

****(*)Antonia Quirke, Financial Times, 19/04/2012

The problem with Marley is the reverential distance it keeps. It's not quite a hagiography, but it's close.

***(*)(*)Anthony Quinn, The Independent, 20/04/2012

A fascinating account of a complex, charismatic man.

****(*)Allan Hunter, Daily Express, 20/04/2012

It’s all delivered with such rich, campfire-crackly conviction that the stories feel thrillingly intimate...Bringing everything together, of course, is the music, which even to this reggae sceptic sounded glorious.

****(*)Robbie Collin, The Telegraph, 20/04/2012

A great music documentary.

****(*)Chris Tookey, Daily Mail, 20/04/2012

Impressive, thoughtful.

Philip French, The Observer, 22/04/2012

Comprehensive, absorbing and inspirational.

Tim Walker, The Independent, 22/04/2012

Although the archive material is fascinating and the range of interviewees impressive, the sheer weight of it feels laboured and slightly hagiographic, as though absolutely everyone had to have their say.

Demetrios Matheou, Sunday Herald, 22/04/2012

What’s refreshing is that Macdonald’s film is so many things. It’s a window into the soul of Rastafari Reggae, an honest and affectionate biopic, a tale of tragedy caught up in revolution. But perhaps more importantly, it’s a fiery, bracing portrait of a cultural consciousness and the philosophy which directed it.

*****Andrew Latimer, TV Bomb, 23/04/2012

At times you wish Macdonald had pushed his interviewees a little bit further in their recollections; by including a superfluous coda involving a montage of children from around the world singing along to 'One Love', Macdonald is at times guilty of softening Marley's legacy.

***(*)(*)Tom Dawson, The List, 25/04/2012


Features about Marley (15)

Bob Marley: the regret that haunted his life

Tim Adams, The Observer, 08/04/2012

Scots director Kevin Macdonald reveals all about the life of Bob Marley in new documentary

Siobhan Synnot, Daily Record, 12/04/2012

Kevin Macdonald on Bob Marley

The Scotsman, 17/04/2012

Bob Marley: So much things to say...

Geoffrey Macnab, The Independent, 18/04/2012

Kevin MacDonald: I began to like Bob Marley more when I knew his flaws

Florence Water, The Telegraph, 20/04/2012

Marley, the movie: the view from Jamaica

Tom Horan, The Guardian, 20/04/2012

Marley (15)

Where and when?

General release. Check local listings for show times.

Cameo, Edinburgh from Friday May 11, 2012, until Thursday May 24, 2012. More info: http://www.picturehouses.co.uk/

Edinburgh Filmhouse, Edinburgh from Monday July 9, 2012, until Thursday July 12, 2012. More info: www.filmhousecinema.com

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