After taking an innovative approach to documentary making with the world-chronicling Life in a Day, director Kevin Macdonald went much more traditional with Marley, and the results are revealing and mostly satisfying—albeit somewhat exhaustive.

For this long-overdue movie about the reggae legend, MacDonald could have easily have made this a bloated mess, packed with stars and critics further analyzing Bob Marley‘s life. Instead, he uses remarkable access to Marley’s friends, family and bandmates to make this an often intimate, always entertaining and sometimes heartbreaking view of the man himself.  Hit the jump for a review of Kevin Macdonald’s Marley on Blu-ray.

Beyond the joyous and upbeat quality of many of the film’s sequences, Marley delivers a depth of information and insights that would have been impossible without the kind of cooperation the Marley family offered by opening up their hearts, minds and memories to Academy Award-winning director Kevin Macdonald. Their expansive interviews and the unparalleled and unrestricted access to a trove of archival imagery mean that this compelling documentary will stand as the one definitive record of the Bob Marley legacy.

For Grammy award-winning musician and humanitarian, Ziggy Marley, the oldest son of Bob Marley, there were revealing moments in the film about things that he hadn’t heard or seen before that he found very moving. While a lot of concert films and biographies have been done on his father’s life as a reggae legend and one of the most iconic musicians of the 20^th century, he believes what sets Marley apart is that it offers people a more emotional connection to his life as a man and the struggles he went through.  At the press day for Marley, we sat down with Ziggy and his brother, Robbie, to talk about the enduring nature of their father’s fame and the undying messages that go beyond his music and make Bob Marley a cultural force that’s still to be reckoned with more than 30 years after his passing. They discussed his lasting influence on them as a father and as an artist and their fondest personal memories of the times they shared with him.  Hit the jump to read.

For nearly half a century, Bob Marley’s music and his message have resonated powerfully on a global level that remains unparalleled. Academy Award-winning director Kevin Macdonald’s new documentary, Marley, is the definitive life story of the musician, revolutionary, and legend from his early days to his rise to international superstardom. Made with the support of the Marley family, Marley features rare footage, incredible performances and revealing interviews with the people that knew him best. The film also gives the audience a more emotional connection to Marley’s life as a man.  Magnolia Pictures will release Marley theatrically and on VOD on Friday, April 20th.

At the press day for Marley, we sat down with Macdonald for an exclusive interview.  We talked about what inspired him to make a documentary about the enigmatic Bob Marley who transcended music to become a cultural, political and social icon for change. He told us about what he hoped to achieve by making this film, how he set out to reveal a human side of a towering figure in musical history, and why he thinks Marley still speaks to people around the world today as powerfully as he did when he was alive and more profoundly than any other rock artist or popular music artist. Macdonald also discussed his upcoming projects including How I Live Now with Saoirse Ronan, Bobby Fischer Goes to War and Black Sea.

In a discussion concerning influential figures from the musical profession, it’s hard not to mention Bob Marley. In director Kevin Macdonald’s (The Last King of Scotland) new documentary, titled simply Marley, he attempts to chronicle the artist’s life from his early days to his rise to stardom and, ultimately, to his death. We recently brought you the first poster for Marley, but now we have the official US trailer to show you as well. Marley features rare performance footage, archival interviews and commentary from his friends and family.

Marley will make its world premiere this month at the Berlin Film Festival and will make SXSW its North American debut. Look for Marley in theaters and on VOD in a Magnolia Pictures release on April 20^th. Hit the jump to check out the trailer.

The alcoholism drama Smashed and the Bob Marley documentary Marley have now found a way to you.  According to The Wrap, Sony Pictures Classics will distribute Smashed, which features a powerful performance from Mary Elizabeth Winstead as an alcoholic who’s struggling to get sober.  I caught the film at Sundance and was blown away by Winstead as well as her co-star Aaron Paul.  As for Marley, the film was directed by Kevin Macdonald (Life in a Day) and will tell the legendary musician’s life story with unprecedented support from Marley’s family.  The film will make its US premiere at the SXSW Film Festival in March.

Hit the jump for the press release for Marley.

Opening this weekend is director Kevin Macdonald’s (Last King of Scotland, State of Play) The Eagle. The films based on Rosemary Sutcliff’s novel The Eagle of the Ninth and it stars Channing Tatum, Jamie Bell, and Donald Sutherland.  Here’s part of the synopsis:

In 2^nd-Century Britain, two men – master and slave – venture beyond the edge of the known world on a dangerous and obsessive quest that will push them beyond the boundaries of loyalty and betrayal, friendship and hatred, deceit and heroism.

The other day I sat down with Macdonald for an extended video interview.  During our conversation, we talked about his very famous grandfather Emeric Pressburger (The Red Shoes), how The Eagle came together, and we also discussed his upcoming Bob Marley documentary.  Hit the jump to watch:

Jenny Ash, the UK director who has received an Emmy nomination for her work on the documentary miniseries America – The Story of Us, is developing a biopic on the life of legendary reggae artist Bob Marley.  Deadline reports that the “feature will concentrate on the year Marley spent living in London in 1977. This was a crucial year for Marley. He’d fled Jamaica after an attempt was made on his life; the year ended with him sustaining a soccer injury which eventually triggered full-blown cancer.”  Ash, whose two-hour segment of the 12-part America miniseries covered slavery and the Civil War, also sees the movie as a love triangle between Marley, his wife Rita and Jamaican beauty queen Cindy Breakspeare, whom Ash has spent time with in Jamaica.  I presume the denouement of that story won’t be about college students who love Marley because he shared their love of getting high.

Hit the jump for more on the project.