One Love (2003): 22 Years Later with Kymani Marley, Cherine Anderson & Idris Elba

After 22 years, we finally watch the 2003 film "One Love" starring Kymani Marley and Cherine Anderson, with a pre-fame Idris Elba playing a supporting role. This romantic drama explores forbidden love between a Rastafarian musician and a Pentecostal preacher's daughter who meet at a music competition in Jamaica. 

Listen for our take on the movie. 

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Introduction to Reels and Rhythms Podcast

Speaker 1 0:03

Hey everybody , welcome to another episode of Reels and Rhythms brought to you by Carry On Friends in partnership with Style and Vibes and Breadfruit Media . And , as you know , reels and Rhythms . We bring you commentary , reviews and perspective to what's going on in the world of TV , film and concert , with plenty of vibes , as only Michaela and I can , and this is all through the lens of Caribbean culture , caribbean American immigrant and first-generation experiences . What you're saying , michaela , this is take two .

Speaker 2 0:37

We often met the people that knew Actually , tree tree comment and freeze up too , take tree Tree . So yes , we were kind of having this banter before and around , not seeing the movie first

Discussing "One Love" (2003) Movie

Speaker 2 0:52

. So I think we have to back up first . So what we're ?

Speaker 1 0:55

talking about is the one love movie and not the Bob Marley 2024 . One love movie , but the 2003 one love movie with Kimani Marley , and this is our first time watching it . Even though I have the DVD and I'm a host , I've never watched it . And so after 22 years , I'm watching one love with Kimani Marley , shereen Anderson and Idris , who we have to talk about because at the time when idris record this , idris was still only known as stringer bell . I went through his filmography and the only thing people knew him for at the time of the recording . So the movie came out in 2003 , so you already know that it's probably a year or more . They were in in production and whatever . So at the time he's still Stringer Bell , so we don't really know him as who he is now Idris .

Speaker 1 1:50

Idris whatever you know , no , idris , no , so we can say Idris , not Idris , idris , idris . Anyway , we have to talk about that , but tell us what the show is about .

Speaker 2 2:05

So One Love stars Shireen Anderson and Kimani Marley . So Shireen Anderson plays the daughter of a pastor . Her name is Serena in the movie . She is a devout Pentecostal daughter , you know , of the church she's a preacher's kid , a preacher's kid , a preacher's kid and she book upon Casa , which is played by Kimani Marley at a music competition that they have both entered , and so , as you can presume , it is about them falling in love . And where Idris kind of come into play is he is who Serena is supposed to marry from the church .

Speaker 1 2:47

Yeah , oh , the one more thing when ? So we watched this on Amazon prime . So when I first I watched it on . Coda .

Speaker 2 2:54

It's actually on Coda . I watched it on Coda .

Speaker 1 2:57

Yeah , um , the artwork was threw me off because the artwork that I'm used to is the artwork with Kimani and Shireen on it , but this artwork that's on Amazon Prime has Idris on it and I'm like , what is ? Is this a different version ? And I mean it's a smart move to update the artwork to include Idris on it , because Idris is a little bit more popular now than when it first came out , so that makes sense . But it did twist me up , man , I write on this . I had to go look .

Plot Summary and Main Characters

Speaker 1 3:31

I said Aegis , really in on this .

Speaker 2 3:34

Yes , I didn't know he was in there , because I distinctly remember the promo with just Kimani and Shireen , and we know Shireen from Dancehall Queen she was the older daughter in that movie and Kimani Marley , of course we know him as a music . They're both music artists and so this was my first time really seeing Shireen as an adult in a film , and at the time I think she was still doing music . I think she still does music . But yes , yes , yes , we have to talk to teens then . Yeah , all right , you want to start first ?

Speaker 1 4:05

I think she still does music . But yes , yes , yes , we have to talk the things then . Yeah , all right , you want to start first ?

Speaker 2 4:09

Well , what was your initial thought of the entire premise of the movie ? And I had to kind of put my 2003 brain panic .

Speaker 1 4:22

No , I like it . I like it because here's the thing as you're looking at it in 2025 eyes , you think of like , oh wow , solid production for 2003 . I enjoyed it . I mean , you want me to get into all of these specifics ? I'm sorry .

Speaker 2 4:39

I wouldn't say specifics . I would say , overall I thought it was a little sappy and a little slow , but there was something there , like

Initial Impressions and Critiques

Speaker 2 4:48

it was .

Speaker 1 4:49

I truly enjoyed it because I felt like , if you think about like , how else was it going to be Right ? As a matter of fact , the whole time I was watching it , I was thinking of Kimani's song with Protege Right , that was the song that was playing in my head and I mean , it is a classic story . You know whether it is Romeo and Juliet , you know whatever . We kind of knew that that's what it would be and why can't we get a love story ? And I mean , to be honest , it's supposed to be sappy . Going back to what we said in whichever version of take is chances are . The reason why we're just watching it in 2025 and don't remember anything much about it in 2003 is because it's a love story and it's a little sappy , whereas we all knew what was happening with third world cup , dance hockey , all of these other things . And I think it's because it's a love story and rasta no in love , our bad man in love and them type of thing that maybe it just never circulate the same way .

Speaker 2 5:54

so , yeah , you might be right , but even like love stories , I feel like it would have made its rounds to at least women , like I don't know . I I think that the writing was good , but it could have been tighter in the sense that like there was a lot of scenes with no talking and so it kind of like distracted me a bit from this , like it could have been filled a little bit better seeing that with no talking .

Speaker 2 6:23

It was like a lot of in-between moments , like they weren't really saying much , and when they were they weren't , they still weren't really saying much . So for me it was just okay . I think it was like you said everything doesn't have to be , you know , exciting or or good . But I enjoyed some aspects of it , but in other aspects of it I just thought it could have been tighter . The issues that I had weren't .

Speaker 1 6:52

Even with that , I didn't mind not having the dialogue , because to me it's like there's sometimes things should be on set and I think in those moments I appreciated Kimani's presence a little bit more , because there are just moments when the manna just look upon the woman and that is the communication . That's the dialogue to me . That's how I interpreted it , like , you know , being around them silent , intense , type , you know them , just like , yeah , look For the film , though the character that felt a little bit you know this could have been stronger is actually Shireen's character . What wasn't on display was Shireen's acting . I think I paid attention to Kimani a little

Analyzing Acting Performances

Speaker 1 7:44

bit more and I think what this also I appreciated in this because you know I'm just very nostalgic it was still looking at Jamaica in 2003 and see how much , what makes Jamaica , jamaica was still there in 2003 .

Speaker 2 8:04

I throw out the flyer Shankle , I'm like yes , yeah , I love the timeliness of it and the cinematography was really good . I thought it was amazing the shots that they did have like from the beach to traveling on the road to , like you said , the car traveling and throwing out the flyers to the studio , the church , all the outdoor scenes were just really , really well shot .

Speaker 1 8:37

The only thing that didn't bother me and I'm missing how them get to seaside , to hilltop , so quick Like well , that was .

Speaker 1 8:44

I think it was like slow , but then it just it felt a little choppy Like how my girl go from she has she got married , she not got married and 20 , no , I really understand , no , no it's not me , get me kind of get that , me , kind of get that edra's character , get that when she go in farm and go tell daddy moto , right , no , but it was just like them the pan Pony Seaside , and then they reach up in that . And when we say the hills , you know we're not talking hills with sea view , you know we are saying hills up in the hills . So like those things kind of threw me off a little bit . Oh , fun fact , the man who played Shireen's father and the woman who went to the castle , the fornicators , they were both in Lunatic . That's what I also love seeing when Jamaican actors , actresses , are carrying over in other films .

Speaker 1 9:42

I was like Idris was good when he didn't have long speaking lines . If he didn't just keep it short , I didn't see his accent wasn't too bad , it wasn't horrible . It wasn't horrible , especially if the speaking lines didn't see his accent . It wasn't too bad , it wasn't horrible . It wasn't horrible , especially if you had the speaking lines them keep sharp , them sharp . Yeah , yes , it wasn't bad . I'm like curious . I'm like did someone approach Aegis about this ?

Speaker 2 10:02

Aegis , it was probably intentional , like he had something but he wasn't going to get , and they probably didn't have an interpreter or a language person at that time . So I'm just having picky time . Well , why I don't know . But it was I don't know either . I just assume . I don't know , I don't know , but honestly , he didn't do horrible at all .

Speaker 1 10:25

No , he wasn't horrible . He wasn't horrible . I think he did pretty good . Yeah , I think overall did pretty good . It's like there was nothing in there that was surprising . What I found interesting was when the scene where Kimani was talking to Muta Baruka about how somebody can fall in love with somebody basically from two separate religions and regret you could quickly overlook it because you juxtaposition that against the very militant Bobo , who when he was in the beginning outside , he said Well , we had for about two hours .

Speaker 2 11:23

Oh then come in and squint .

Speaker 1 11:26

Was it predictable in ways ? Absolutely , but would you be entertained Also ?

Speaker 2 11:32

yeah , You'll be entertained in , in my opinion , in a Lifetime movie way , yeah , where you can't look away but you're not super , super impressed with it all . I think the visuals alone . But I think Shireen , like her character , was supposed to connect the story and I think she didn't have enough speaking lines . In my opinion she got the shy church girl thing down but she didn't like bring that level of energy that I think I think she could have had . She had a

Comedic Moments and Production Value

Speaker 2 12:14

little bit more . She didn't have a whole lot of lines , like . I just feel like the entire movie was just underwritten . Yes , there were a lot of things that were unsaid , but I expect that from Kimani Marley's character , more so than Shireen , like she didn't really even in the scenes with her father May expect more pushback .

Speaker 2 12:39

Yeah , I expected more of a pushback , like even at the dinner table where they were eating . I'm like he's acting like this girl is 12 . She's about to be married to somebody . In the church she got to be at least of a certain age . Like she just sat back down as if she was 12 years old .

Speaker 1 12:57

You'd have to read into the line of what was going on with the father . But you know , like , yeah , there were , there was that , there was that where you could have expanded on that . I think for me , part of the reason why I enjoyed it , because I found a lot of comedy in it and it's not supposed to be a comedic thing , but I did , yeah , um you know who was the little brother ?

Speaker 2 13:19

when we get all , I'm gonna get married , I'm gonna marry that sexy girl . I'm like , what do you know about sexy girl ? And even in that , like she didn't have anything to say , she just kind of looked at her brother and just rolled her eyes as if she wouldn't have had anything more to say about that . Because , like , I'm just like , what are you talking about ?

Speaker 2 13:43

You don't know nothing about X , y and Z and you know they didn't have any like true response , so it's just kind of like this story that moves along . I think the most exciting part is when my man flip over in the pool . We didn't flip for one , the selector , yeah selector B Selector G sorry . Selector G yeah , because I'm like B because it's Bello from Black on Bello . I was confused about the contract that he had with Selected G and why he would be owed royalties for a song that just got on the radio .

Speaker 1 14:23

Listen , yeah , I think very musically depth , we're not doing that song . It's like it's a song just like there has to be an inciting event , you know .

Speaker 2 14:34

It would have been better if he'd gotten paid to do something and then demand thiefing money . But it was just odd and like breaking into the guy's house to get back the contract to make him sign it .

Speaker 1 14:46

It was well the royalties uh , because the song obviously was them . Them realized I sang a blow up and they wouldn't get any money . So they want their money . But for me what was funny was the original girl in the band and she always come for money and when their sister come for money they take with their self .

Speaker 2 15:08

Money share look . Money share look Always , yeah , my 100 , 100 candles still .

Speaker 1 15:18

Oh gosh , that was funny . And I think it was funny that they pretended to get from the minivan knowing that he just was going to follow it and once he peeled off and followed it , the taxi go the other way . I thought that was hilarious . Personally , Because I'm just a drive on a drive , you know , and I just found it entertaining . Yes , predictable , but , like you said , in a lifetime movie kind of way , Even though the father is a veteran actor , Jamaican actor , I just think that it was just that movie

Storyline Development and Predictability

Speaker 1 15:54

. That's just what it was . It was a simple was just that movie . That's just what it was . It was a simple , you know , movie and you know they didn't fill it with depth . But the story is a simple story that everybody can connect with and , you know , when it's Arasta , I think that's a good word it lacks depth .

Speaker 2 16:13

Yeah , yeah , that's a good way to describe it it lacks depth .

Speaker 1 16:17

Yeah , yeah , that's a good way to describe it , but everybody can relate to a story like that , with a flunker girl and somebody from a different part of the country not going there with you . You know , or you are a rasta and this girl go church or you go this , you know , like there's always something that two people can't come together or are unlikely to come together because of something else , and you get that story and that's the gist and you just build something around it , you build an event and all sorts of things around it and then voila , you know , um , but overall I enjoyed it . I think it was okay . Yeah , like I said , even at the end , where it was predictable that you ain't gonna stumble at the end for starting performers , I won . I won 1-2 .

Speaker 2 17:09

yeah , you're a bobo so like those comedic moments in between made it easier to kind of like get through . And then I'm like all of a sudden so how you going from not even talking to the father to getting him blessed punch stage to propose to him daughter ?

Speaker 1 17:27

yeah , I was about to say you know , say you're just wandering , I'm like I don't know what . I didn't expect .

Speaker 2 17:35

I don't know , I don't know , I don't know , but again I think use the right word . It just lacked a little depth . I think there could have been more to the story if they had just kind of implemented it , but for the time I think it was good . I would love to see more love stories coming out of the region , but this is why I'm sympathetic about it .

Speaker 1 17:55

You know , there's one that we kind of watched Home Again . I watched it in Toronto because it didn't show in theaters here . I was in Canada at the time Toronto at the time and I watched it . So there's some other projects but they're not Jamaican based . I think Home Again them say they're Jamaica but it really was filmed in Trinidad . The one with Lyric Bent I don't think I've heard of it , I'm sure the pictures you see are Wachit and the one with Ashley from Fresh Prince Tatiana Ali .

Speaker 2 18:31

Oh , yes , yes , yes , yes , that was actually pretty good . I like that one . Yeah , yeah , yeah , so that one wasn't really a love story . I thought that was Ah , I remember , I forgot . I remember it , but yes , we might have to re-watch it . Yeah , yeah , add that to the re-watch list . Home Again , that's what it is . Yeah , yeah , me too . While they're home .

Speaker 1 18:52

Yeah , yeah .

Speaker 2 18:54

Yeah , yeah .

Speaker 1 18:56

Watch that again too . Yeah , all right . So what is your rating for a accent ?

Rating the Movie Categories

Speaker 2 19:02

Accent . I'd give it a four and a half just because of Idris .

Speaker 1 19:07

Mm-hmm . Megita four , character Three Mm-hmm , mm-hmm .

Speaker 2 19:16

Mm-hmm you agreehmm , mm-hmm you agree . No , no , no .

Speaker 1 19:19

My score is already in here , but you have to tell the people then . Oh , sorry , tree Is my character , my storyline . I give it a 2.53 . You know , because it's a predictable storyline 2.53 ?

Speaker 2 19:39

2.5 , you know , because it's a predictable storyline 2.53 ? 2.5 slash 3 . Oh , 2.3 . Oh , my things are 2.53 . Oh , you're going to put that in a minute . Okay , I'd give it a 2 .

Speaker 1 19:53

Mm-hmm .

Speaker 2 19:56

Music . We didn't talk a lot about the music , but I thought that the music and the soundtrack were good .

Speaker 1 20:01

Yeah , I actually give it a four I actually give it a five . Yeah , because innocent crew um minnow noah were the girl group when they do , but there were , you know them play some sizzler in there .

Speaker 2 20:12

Yeah , they had people from the 2000s like the music of that era . Yeah , it fit .

Speaker 1 20:20

And it was memorable because , as I was watching it , I'm like I still can't remember where I saw Frank get Millie Black . To be honest , yeah , visual authenticity five . Let me give it a four because I still can't get Odenko from from seaside to up in the mountains so quick , like you know why ? Because they're going to walk by the sea . Maybe I should line to a four then . They're going to walk by the seaside like they're going yard , and when they reach a yard , the yard up in the hills , at least cut to the part where you show whatever , like it just threw me off the whole time it threw that it is a mess . And also , at least you're cut , cut to the part where you're sure whatever , like that it just threw me off the whole , the whole time it showed me off . Okay , four , four for me . Uh , it gets a 3.6 average average .

Speaker 1 21:08

Yeah , I think that's good yeah , I mean , like I said , I would still tell people to watch it . I I feel like you'll be entertained . You know I love to to see classic jamaican actors doing their thing . Carl bradshaw played the obi-wan bello from black arm bello , like some . Has he played a character like that before ? I feel like I've seen him , carl bradshaw . Carl Bradshaw played the Obiaman Bello from Black Arm Bello , like some .

Speaker 2 21:27

Has he played a character like that before ? I feel like I've seen him .

Speaker 1 21:31

Carl Bradshaw plays a lot of different characters . I remember him from Lunatics . He played one , you know . So he's a classic Jamaican actor as well , but I recommend you watching it . But again , aegis , tell us , did you want to be in this ? Or somebody reach out to you and say you know , do this Made us curious ? You know as to why ?

Speaker 2 21:59

Aegis , she asked you personally , so make sure you respond to us personally Link

Final Thoughts and Takeaways

Speaker 2 22:06

with please , please and thanks .

Speaker 1 22:08

Like him just said . Yeah , the word will go on and on , but me feel like more than a Jamaican movie .

Speaker 2 22:15

But you know , I think he was a DJ , so I think he probably knows the music and you know , is around the culture and I think the opportunity probably presented itself and he was just like yeah , look , you know , when you're an actor , you don't especially at that stage , you probably don't turn down work , yeah yeah , catch the filmography after that .

Speaker 1 22:36

Yeah , now you have aegis , the aegis that everybody know . But , um , I do still think that you should watch and then tell us if what you think you disagree with me , you agree with me . Yeah , I did really walk away saying wow , not that I doubted his ability to act , but I walked away saying , and this is not a bad thing , kimani , so please don't risk me up , but I think I like Kimani a little bit more as an actor . It's almost balanced , but he plays , I don't know . It was just like I'm not saying in this , it was like Oscar winning . But when I'm looking at his filmography , I'm seeing range and I was just like , oh , wow , like you know what I mean , you wanted to see more of him .

Speaker 2 23:23

More of him , yes , yes and other projects and other projects you wanted to see more of him . More of him , yes , in other projects .

Speaker 1 23:26

In other projects I was like wow , and I think we have very few . So if we're looking at Jamaica and its artists , we have very few people who can definitively say yo , them can cut one reggae dance a album and go star in a one film simultaneously .

Speaker 2 23:46

He fits like the Ice-T kind of mold where he could do the acting and the music yeah absolutely , and that's what I walked away with an appreciation of that .

Speaker 1 23:57

If I'd watched it in 2003 , I don't know if I would see that , and that's what I took away from this . We know Shireen has the acting and the singing , but when you think of dancehall , reggae , male artists , yeah , you know , I really appreciated , you know that , and I was like , but it's a good thing , it's like , it's like jamie foxx , right , you're like , do I prefer singing , jamie , or acting jamie ? And you're like when they can do both . You , you know , you , you have an embarrassment of riches , you know , when it comes to talent like that , and that's what I walked away with like , I have to decide if I like kimani as a musician or , um , an actor , and well , you don't have to choose . But that's the beauty of it , right , I was like I want to see more of kimani acting , yeah , so , yeah , that's it for us in this episode of reels to the rhythms . So until next time later , look at more .

Speaker 1 24:48

Bye guys , bye . Bonnie acting , yeah . Yeah , that's it for us in this episode of Reels to the Rhythms . So until next time later , look at more . Bye guys , bye .