Plot: The true story of Rob Peace (Jay Will), a promising academic who, in a desperate attempt to raise money for his incarcerated father (Chiwetel Ejiofor) started a marijuana business that put his future in jeopardy.
Review: One of the recurring themes of this year’s Sundance was fatherhood. It’s a theme that cropped up in one of the fest’s most popular documentaries, Daughters, and was also prominent in films like Freaky Tales, Love Lies Bleeding, and Exhibiting Forgiveness. Most of the relationships were depicted as at least somewhat dysfunctional, and Rob Peace, in some measure, follows suit.
It begs the question, what would you sacrifice to save your father? Most movies – when they ask this question – do the reverse. We’re used to seeing stories about parents sacrificing things for their children, but not the reverse. In Rob Peace, which is based on a story that’s all too tragically true,...
Review: One of the recurring themes of this year’s Sundance was fatherhood. It’s a theme that cropped up in one of the fest’s most popular documentaries, Daughters, and was also prominent in films like Freaky Tales, Love Lies Bleeding, and Exhibiting Forgiveness. Most of the relationships were depicted as at least somewhat dysfunctional, and Rob Peace, in some measure, follows suit.
It begs the question, what would you sacrifice to save your father? Most movies – when they ask this question – do the reverse. We’re used to seeing stories about parents sacrificing things for their children, but not the reverse. In Rob Peace, which is based on a story that’s all too tragically true,...
- 1/31/2024
- by Chris Bumbray
- JoBlo.com
Sundance film festival: A magnificent lead performance from newcomer Jay Will helps to lift a rousing yet often uneven drama based on the life and death of a Yale student
How do you tell the story of Rob Peace? He was an exceptionally smart Black kid living in New Jersey, the product of a hard-working mother and a father who was convicted of murder when he was seven. His intellect and interest in science took him all the way to Yale on a scholarship, but circumstance took him back home and to a period of dealing drugs, a bright star crashing to earth, shot to death at the age of 30.
It’s a horrible, haunting tale, told by his old roommate Jeff Hobbs in the book The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace, and now adapted to the big screen by Chiwetel Ejiofor, in his sophomore feature as director.
How do you tell the story of Rob Peace? He was an exceptionally smart Black kid living in New Jersey, the product of a hard-working mother and a father who was convicted of murder when he was seven. His intellect and interest in science took him all the way to Yale on a scholarship, but circumstance took him back home and to a period of dealing drugs, a bright star crashing to earth, shot to death at the age of 30.
It’s a horrible, haunting tale, told by his old roommate Jeff Hobbs in the book The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace, and now adapted to the big screen by Chiwetel Ejiofor, in his sophomore feature as director.
- 1/23/2024
- by Benjamin Lee in Park City
- The Guardian - Film News
“Rob Peace,” Chiwetel Ejiofor’s second feature film as a director and an adaptation of Jeff Hobbs’ bestselling biography “The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace,” starts with a powerful enough image: a literal house on fire. It’s the house that once belonged to the Peace family, now charred on the inside and sitting vacantly in an East Orange, New Jersey neighborhood. The image is one Ejiofor returns to in this film about the lifelong institutional failures that led to the murder of promising Black Yale graduate Robert Peace in 2011 at the age of 30, and during an American financial crisis. Earnestly told and intelligently acted by “Tulsa King” breakout Jay Will in his first major film role, “Rob Peace” still suffers from the usual biographical drama cliches, confused cutting, and an often too blunt script that flattens the majority of the film’s surrounding ensemble into background noise.
- 1/22/2024
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
Camila Cabello swapped the Grammy and VMA stages for the snowy streets of Park City to promote her new indie drama “Rob Peace,” which premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.
In the movie, Cabello plays the girlfriend of Rob Peace (“Tulsa King” actor Jay Will). He’s a promising Yale student who grew up in a crime-ridden New Jersey neighborhood. But his bright future dims after he’s forced to sell drugs to support his incarcerated father’s legal battles. It’s a terrible, true story based on the biography “The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace” by Jeff Hobbs, who was Peace’s college roommate.
“I felt a story like this needed to be told,” Cabello said at the Variety Studio presented by Audible. “People have told stories like this in an overly simplistic way… people coming from difficult circumstances; binary ways of looking at success and failure.
In the movie, Cabello plays the girlfriend of Rob Peace (“Tulsa King” actor Jay Will). He’s a promising Yale student who grew up in a crime-ridden New Jersey neighborhood. But his bright future dims after he’s forced to sell drugs to support his incarcerated father’s legal battles. It’s a terrible, true story based on the biography “The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace” by Jeff Hobbs, who was Peace’s college roommate.
“I felt a story like this needed to be told,” Cabello said at the Variety Studio presented by Audible. “People have told stories like this in an overly simplistic way… people coming from difficult circumstances; binary ways of looking at success and failure.
- 1/22/2024
- by Rebecca Rubin
- Variety Film + TV
In today’s film news roundup, “Deadpool 2: I Love My Family” opened in first place in China, Chiwetel Ejiofor takes a directing gig, and Theo James’ “Lying and Stealing” gets distribution.
Box Office
Fox’s re-cut, PG-13 “Deadpool 2: I Love My Family” has opened in first place in China, with $8.5 million in its first day on Friday.
It’s the first time that the foul-mouthed Ryan Reynolds series has passed China’s censorship standards. The profanity-free version was initially released in the U.S. in December as a Christmas-themed “Once Upon a Deadpool” and grossed about $6 million in a dozen days in North America.
The R-rated “Deadpool 2” grossed $318 million in North America and another $419 million overseas during the summer.
Director Attachment
Los Angeles Media Fund has hired Chiwetel Ejiofor to adapt and direct a movie based on the book “The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace:...
Box Office
Fox’s re-cut, PG-13 “Deadpool 2: I Love My Family” has opened in first place in China, with $8.5 million in its first day on Friday.
It’s the first time that the foul-mouthed Ryan Reynolds series has passed China’s censorship standards. The profanity-free version was initially released in the U.S. in December as a Christmas-themed “Once Upon a Deadpool” and grossed about $6 million in a dozen days in North America.
The R-rated “Deadpool 2” grossed $318 million in North America and another $419 million overseas during the summer.
Director Attachment
Los Angeles Media Fund has hired Chiwetel Ejiofor to adapt and direct a movie based on the book “The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace:...
- 1/26/2019
- by Dave McNary
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Just as his feature directorial debut The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind makes its Sundance Film Festival debut tonight, Chiwetel Ejiofor has been set by Los Angeles Media Fund to adapt and direct The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace: A Brilliant Young Man Who Left Newark for the Ivy League, based on the bestselling book by Jeff Hobbs. Antoine Fuqua and Rebecca Hobbs are producing, along with Andrea Calderwood and Kat Samick. Jeffrey Soros and Simon Horsman will produce on behalf of Los Angeles Media Fund, which will fully finance the project.
Growing up outside of Newark, NJ, Robert Peace dreamed of making his single mother proud by escaping his crime-ridden city. He defied the odds and went to Yale on a full scholarship. He was captain of the water polo team and graduated with honors in molecular biochemistry and biophysics. All this promise and potential was...
Growing up outside of Newark, NJ, Robert Peace dreamed of making his single mother proud by escaping his crime-ridden city. He defied the odds and went to Yale on a full scholarship. He was captain of the water polo team and graduated with honors in molecular biochemistry and biophysics. All this promise and potential was...
- 1/25/2019
- by Mike Fleming Jr
- Deadline Film + TV
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.