by Charles Kirkland Jr.
It’s a family affair as Malcolm Washington makes his feature directorial debut of his brother John David
Washington with this adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning August Wilson play, about a family
haunted by the legacy of an heirloom in The Piano Lesson.
After a well accident causing the death of the property owner, Boy Willie wants to sell his family’s
intricately carved heirloom piano to buy the land his ancestors were enslaved upon. Recognizing its
legacy, Boy Willie’s sister Berniece is fiercely protective of the piano, even though she never plays it.
Their uncle Doaker tries to keep the peace between the two while not taking the side of either one.
Being focused on acquiring the property, Boy Willie refuses to let anyone or anything stop him on his
mission until he ends up facing a force more focused than he is.
With a screenplay written by Virgil Williams and Malcolm Washington based on the play written by
August Wilson, The Piano Lesson stars John David Washington, Danielle Deadwyler, Samuel L. Jackson,
Ray Fisher, Michael Potts, and Corey Hawkins. The film is directed by Malcolm Washington in his feature
directorial debut.
It has been a pet project of Denzel Washington, who serves as a producer for the film, to bring August
Wilson’s plays to the big screen. This film is the ultimate culmination of his dream. Not only are his sons
involved in the movie, one as director and the other as star but his daughter Katia also serves as a
producer on the film. This cinematic event is truly a family affair.
The performances in the movie are excellent. John David Washington, Samuel L. Jackson, Ray Fisher and
Michael Potts has special experience because they are reprising their roles from a Broadway
production of the play which ran for sixteen weeks. Danielle Deadwyler is an excellent addition to the
play as Berniece, the stubborn yet loving single mother who treasures what her family invested in
the piano over the land where the family was enslaved. John David Washington delivers the most lively
and engaging performance of his young career in a role that he has perfected on Broadway.
Everything about this movie and the performances are perfect, even the insertion of some supernatural
elements that seem to come out of nowhere. Being faithfully derived from a Pulitzer-winning
playwright, writers Washington and Williams seem to have a head start on excellence that they never
release. This film seems much more like a feature film than its predecessors, Fences and Ma Rainey’s
Black Bottom which had the feeling of a screenplay.
After being screened at the Toronto International Film Festival, The Piano Lesson has been rated PG-13
for strong language, violent content, some suggestive references, and smoking. This is a film that surely
will make a father proud.
The Piano Lesson can be seen in limited theaters on November 8 and then on Netflix starting November
22, 2024.
Grade: B+