Certificate: 12A

Running Time: 125 mins

UK Distributor: Netflix

UK Release Date: 22 November 2024

REVIEWED AT TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2024

WHO’S IN THE PIANO LESSON?

Samuel L. Jackson, John David Washington, Ray Fisher, Michael Potts, Erykah Badu, Skylar Aleece Smith, Danielle Deadwyler, Corey Hawkins, Melanie Jeffcoat, Gail Bean, Jerrika Hinton, Stephan James, Malik J. Ali, Jay Peterson, Matrell Smith

WHO’S BEHIND THE CAMERA?

Malcolm Washington (director, writer), Virgil Williams (writer), Todd Black and Denzel Washington (producers), Alexandre Desplat (composer), Michael Gioulakis (cinematographer), Leslie Jones (editor)

WHAT’S IT ABOUT?

A family faces its legacy when deciding what to do with a historic heirloom…

WHAT ARE MY THOUGHTS ON THE PIANO LESSON?

Of producer Denzel Washington’s screen adaptations thus far of late playwright August Wilson’s ten-play anthology known as “The Pittsburgh Cycle”, which includes previously adapted works such as Fences and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, there is no doubt that The Piano Lesson is without doubt the most cinematic of the bunch.

Though fine films of their own accord, producer (and, in the case of Fences, director and star) Washington’s films often struggled to completely shake off their stage roots, with numerous dialogue-heavy scenes set in singular locations blatantly retaining the theatricality without doing much else to expand it for the screen. The Piano Lesson, on the other hand, sees first-time director – and occasional son of Denzel – Malcolm Washington doing his utmost to take as much advantage as he can of the fact that his adaptation of Wilson’s 1987 play is being translated into a completely different medium, emphasising certain aspects of the plot in ways that might not necessarily work on the stage, and even reworking some of the playwright’s long-winded writing into powerful cinematic moments.

Those aspects do make the film worthwhile, though even with all the added flash this is still a rather patchy narrative that doesn’t always land the right reactions.

As in the original play, the film takes place in post-Depression Pittsburgh, where a woman named Berniece (Danielle Deadwyler) lives with her uncle Doaker (Samuel L. Jackson) and her young daughter Maretha (Skylar Aleece Smith). Her opportunist brother Boy Willie (John David Washington) soon arrives with his slower-witted friend Lymon (Ray Fisher) with a single goal in mind: to claim the family’s most cherished heirloom, an Antebellum-era piano with intricate carvings of their enslaved ancestors, and then sell it in order to purchase his own spot of farmland.

Berniece, however, fiercely refuses to hand over the piano, even though she herself never plays it. To her, the piano is symbolic of her family’s legacy, as well as the fatal sacrifice of their father (portrayed in flashbacks by Stephen James) after he stole the instrument from its white owners, none of which Boy Willie treats as carefully. Oh, and there’s also the superstitious notion that the piano itself may actually be haunted by the spirits of figures from the family’s past, and that moving the piano may anger their disembodied souls.

Yes, in a somewhat unexpected detour from a lot of Wilson’s other works, The Piano Lesson is also a ghost story. Or, more accurately, a story that happens to have ghosts in it. Either way, the supernatural element gives the film an unusually horror-tinged angle, even coming with a pair of effective jump-scares you’d expect to see in a Blumhouse movie. Director Malcolm Washington, who also wrote the screenplay with Virgil Williams, wisely doesn’t overdo the genre conventions, reserving them for specific moments when the drama between the central characters is on the cusp of boiling over, and even then they’re gently weaved into the narrative’s fabric without entirely feeling like tonal whiplash. Some sharp camera angles and editing tricks further create a surprisingly spooky atmosphere that the director hones in with a steady enough focus on the underlying family drama, which are themselves intimately shot by cinematographer Michael Gioulakis who makes the limited locations pop as much as they can on the screen.

It is definitely a play adaptation that is trying more than others of its kind to appear much more like it belongs on the screen, as opposed to just the stage, than it might have otherwise been, but despite its noble efforts The Piano Lesson does still carry some typical stage hallmarks that slightly distort the cinematic illusion. As often is the case with plays, the dialogue still does a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to telling this story, piling on heaps of exposition that can at times be difficult to follow, even with the occasional assistance of visual aids like on-screen flashbacks. There is also a slightly lethargic pace to this plot, with long stretches where little appears to be happening until at long last they do, by which point it may be difficult to feel as though you’ve been on a truly emotional journey with these characters, outside of contained sequences such as one where they suddenly burst into a passionate musical number (which isn’t as ridiculous as it sounds).

The ensemble cast is uniformly great, though some are clearly given more meat to chew on than others. Somewhat disappointingly, Samuel L. Jackson isn’t really given that much to do other than be present most of the time in a largely reactionary supporting role, so for those expecting this to be a role for the actor to potentially dominate the upcoming award season with, as many had predicted he would, it will no doubt be a little deflating to see the actor still be good, but not in a way that’s likely to nab him only his second (!) Oscar nomination, thirty years after his last one for Pulp Fiction. Much more likely to dominate the conversation is Danielle Deadwyler, who gives a ferociously showstopping turn as a woman who is in many ways stuck in the past, and dominates in every scene she is in with a graceful stubbornness that has you greatly emphasising with her complex nature. Plus, the Academy’s inexcusable overlooking for her phenomenal work in Till should boost her chances this time quite considerably.

Overall, The Piano Lesson sets a new precedent for Denzel’s proposed film versions of Wilson’s Pittsburgh Cycle. It proves that these films can go further than their stage limitations whilst still honouring the work and legacy of this playwright, and while they may not fully cleanse themselves of their theatrical roots, their newer ones within the language of cinema can be expanded upon without forgetting where they originally came from.

SO, TO SUM UP…

The Piano Lesson is the most cinematic of producer Denzel Washington’s line of August Wilson adaptations to date, with a strong but not too overplayed supernatural element helping to expand the play’s appeal through a different medium, though often not even the strong performances and compelling filmmaking can help shake its stage roots.

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