Continuing Denzel Washington‘s stated quest to bring new film versions of iconic playwright August Wilson‘s 10-play Century Cycle (aka Pittsburgh Cycle since nearly all take place in the writer’s hometown), he has now come in as producer (with Todd Black) of one of Wilson’s most celebrated works, the 1987 Pulitzer Prize-winning The Piano Lesson, previously made as a TV movie in 1995 and in 2022 the subject of a major Broadway revival. Finding success with his 2016 film version of Fences following its Tony-winning Broadway revival and bringing an Oscar to Viola Davis as well as Denzel’s 10th nomination, and then 2020’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, this seems like a natural move as well as a work that perhaps lends itself better than others in Wilson’s canon to a cinematic adaptation.
It has turned into a family affair this time as Denzel enlisted his son Malcolm Washington to direct as well as co-write (with Virgil Williams), and features another son John David Washington to reprise his acclaimed Broadway debut role of Boy Willie who in 1936 comes from his dull sharecropper job in Mississippi to his Uncle Doaker Charles’ (Samuel L. Jackson) house in Pittsburgh with the intention of trying to sell the old intricately carved piano that has been a key family heirloom. He runs smack into fierce opposition from his sister Berniece (Danielle Deadwyler), who shares the home with Doaker and her 11-year-old daughter Maretha (Skylar Aleece Smith).
Boy Willie (the role, by the way, that Jackson originated in the Yale Rep production 37 years ago) sees this piano as his ticket to being able to buy the land his family had long worked, but now could put him in the position of being an owner. Berniece sees it differently, the piano being a symbol of the family’s identity and tradition as opposed to her brother’s view of it being a ticket to a new era. In the middle is Doaker (the role Jackson took on in the recent Broadway revival and won a Tony nomination for), who is a sort of mediator and a man who can tell the history behind the piano (including how it was stolen from the slave owners) and what it really means. Jackson gets a choice monologue which has been beautifully filmed here in vivid closeup.
Merging Blues tradition and African American myth with family issues that come to the surface over this period in which the play takes place, a key theme of ancestral pride and its place in contemporary family lives really comes across in this version, which has also amped up the eerie ghostly visual effects and past spirits making their presence known. This is a device that worked fine on stage but seems particularly well suited to this new film version. I can’t imagine that Wilson himself would not have been pleased seeing his story given this kind of treatment.
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In the mix with our central characters are Boy Willie’s good friend Lymon (Ray Fisher), Avery (Corey Hawkins), a friend and preacher with feelings for Berniece, and musician/gambler Wining Boy (Michael Potts) who is Doaker’s brother. There is also a fine, if brief, turn from Erykah Badu as Lucille, a singer who makes an impact, musically speaking.
Malcolm Washington, who has done a number of shorts or other filmic enterprises, here gets to dabble in rich source material but still finds a way to make it his own by honoring Wilson’s intentions and expanding on them. Cinematographer Michael Gioulakis delivers the atmospheric and haunting visuals, and Production Designer David J. Bomba creates just the perfect settings for this compelling family drama. Alexandre Desplat has also provided a rich and appropriate score that works splendidly.
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Acting honors go to Deadwyler, so great in the recent Till ,who captures Berniece’s love of family but also her own contradictions. John David Washington has one of his best turns, impressively embodying Boy Willie while acting opposite Jackson, the man who created him on stage all those years ago and now takes on another much older character in the story, still knowing just the right beats to play in Wilson’s sandbox of knockout dialogue. Jackson, Washington, Fisher, and Potts are all reprising their Broadway roles joined by an exceptional cast clearly drawn to doing Wilson proud.
Title: The Piano Lesson
Festival: Telluride
Distributor: Netflix
Release date: November 8, 2024 (select theaters); November 22 (streaming)
Director: Malcolm Washington
Screenwriters: Malcolm Washington and Virgil Williams
Cast: Danielle Deadwyler, John David Washington, Samuel L. Jackson, Skylar Aleece Smith, Ray Fisher, Corey Hawkins, Michael Potts, Erykah Badu
Rating: PG-13
Running time: 2 hr 5 mins