REBEL DREAD
★★★
OUT 4 MARCH / CERT TBC / 83 MINS
DIRECTOR William E. Badgley
CAST Don Letts, John Lydon, Mick Jones, Jeannette Lee
DJ, filmmaker, band manager, fashion icon, musician, social butterfly… Don Letts is a fascinating and complicated man. This potted history of his life, which only occasionally veers into hagiography — it is narrated and guided by the man himself through occasional puffs of a joint — recalls an electric time in music, fashion, politics and art. From ’70s Brixton to ’80s New York, and much more besides, Letts has evidently enjoyed a remarkable life, brushing shoulders with everyone, from Vivienne Westwood to Bob Marley, with charisma and cool. The doc sometimes gets lost in the weeds of the less compelling details; it’s when it celebrates the cultural exchange Letts facilitated — the unlikely cross-pollination of Rastas and punks — that Rebel Dread finds its rhythm.