Rodney King

History, poetry and tragedy collide when Roger Guenveur Smith tackles the thorny odyssey of Rodney King — deemed “the first reality TV star” — from the harsh initial glare of the national spotlight as the victim of police brutality to his involuntary martyrdom that ignited the LA riots to his lonely death at the bottom of a swimming pool.

As with his previous Douglas triumphs (The Watts Tower Project and Juan and John), Smith seamlessly fuses facts and friction, motion and emotion into a gripping narrative that poses impossible questions while illuminating his subject with grace and empathy.