This film is part of Rentals
One Love
Rick Elgood and the legendary Don Letts direct this reggae romance about a rasta musician whose affair with a gospel-singing preacher’s daughter causes a stir in Kingston.
Director: Rick Elgood and Don Letts
Overview
The refreshing, Jamaican-set black love story unusually focuses on forbidden desire between two black protagonists, rather than the more typical trope of inter-racial romance. Serena (Cherine Anderson) is a prim and proper preacher’s daughter with a stunning singing voice, which catches the ear of laid-back rasta musician Kassa (Ky-Mani Marley, son of Bob).
Their shared love of music soon blossoms into an attraction that threatens to form a schism between Kingston’s Christian and Rastafarian communities.
With a subplot around the manoeuvres of a Machiavellian record producer and a delightful early film role from Idris Elba (sporting a West Indian accent), One Love is a black love story with a difference, filled with great reggae as you’d expect from a film co-directed by the legendary Don Letts.
Contains drug references, moderate violence and one moderate sex reference
Related
Barrio Boy Barrio Boy
Romance 2022 83 mins Director: Dennis Shinners
A Latino barber embarks on an erotically charged odyssey of self-discovery over one hot summer in Brooklyn.
Rafiki Rafiki
Drama 2018 83 mins Director: Wanuri Kahiu
Romantic sparks fly between the daughters of two opposing politicians in Wanuri Kahiu’s neon-bright story of forbidden love in Kenya.
Luxor Luxor
Romance 2020 86 mins Director: Zeina Durra
Andrea Riseborough stars as an aid worker processing the trauma of working on the frontline on the Jordanian-Syrian border.
About Dry Grasses About Dry Grasses
Romance 2023 198 mins Director: Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Turkish Palme d’Or-winner Nuri Bilge Ceylan returns with an icy portrait of a teacher whose life unravels following an accusation of inappropriate behaviour.
If Beale Street Could Talk If Beale Street Could Talk
Crime 2018 119 mins Director: Barry Jenkins
Barry Jenkins follows his Oscar®-winning Moonlight with an audacious, distinctive and assured adaptation of James Baldwin’s account of love, injustice and racism in America.
Unicorns Unicorns
Drama 2023 120 mins Director: Sally El Hosaini and James Krishna Floyd
Sally El Hosaini and James Krishna Floyd have created a moving romance between an Essex mechanic and a South Asian drag queen.
For Queen and Country For Queen and Country
Drama 1989 101 mins Director: Martin Stellman
Denzel Washington stars as a British paratrooper who returns to the London council estate of his youth, only to find his wartime service counts for nothing.
Black Girl Black Girl
Drama 1965 59 mins Director: Ousmane Sembène
The first major work by African master Ousmane Sembène, about a Senegalese maid’s despair, brims with both New Wave vitality and African heart.
Within Our Gates Within Our Gates
Drama 1919 74 mins Silent Director: Oscar Micheaux
Oscar Micheaux’s startling silent classic – the earliest surviving feature from an African-American director – presents a fascinating black counterpoint to Griffith’s Birth of a Nation.
Birthright Birthright
Drama 1938 74 mins Silent Director: Oscar Micheaux
Oscar Micheaux directs the story of a Harvard graduate whose attempts to establish a rural school runs into opposition from both races.
Blood of Jesus Blood of Jesus
Drama 1941 56 mins Director: Spencer Williams
Spencer Williams feverish melodrama about a woman’s flirtation with Satan was independently produced out of Texas with an amateur cast and a budget of $5,000.
Bullet Boy Bullet Boy
Drama 2005 86 mins Director: Saul Dibb
Ashley Walters impresses in the hard-hitting Hackney drama that’s still one of the best of Britain’s black urban crime films.
The Last Showgirl The Last Showgirl
Drama 2024 89 mins Director: Gia Coppola
Golden Globe-nominated Pamela Anderson is enchanting as the Las Vegas showgirl whose stage show is set to close.
Dust & Metal Dust & Metal
Documentary 2022 82 mins Director: Esther Johnson
Discover unfamiliar histories of Vietnam through Esther Johnson’s poetic documentary on the country’s love affair with the motorbike.
Mogwai: If the Stars Had a Sound Mogwai: If the Stars Had a Sound
Documentary 2024 91 mins Director: Antony Crook
Celestial sonic odyssey charting the cult Scottish band’s expansive career from the mid-90s to their tenth studio album written during lockdown.
Flow Flow
Animation & Artists Moving Image 2024 85 mins Director: Gints Zilbalodis
Oscar-winning animated adventure about an unlikely group of animals who must work together to survive a natural disaster.
Invasion Invasion
Science Fiction 1966 79 mins Director: Alan Bridges
An alien fugitive, injured in a road accident, pitches up at a rural hospital. But when two intergallactic pursuers arrive, things start to heat up...
Twiggy Twiggy
Documentary 2024 94 mins Director: Sadie Frost
International supermodel, actor, singer and one of the most iconic British figures – this is the real story of Twiggy.