Heritage vs. Aspirations
Reviews and Comments by Ken Burke
I invite you to join me on a regular basis to see how my responses to current cinematic offerings compare to the critical establishment, which I’ll refer to as either the CCAL (Collective Critics at Large) if they’re supportive or the OCCU (Often Cranky Critics Universe) when they go negative. However, due to COVID concerns I’m mostly addressing streaming options with limited visits to theaters, where I don’t think I’ve missed much anyway, but better options are on the horizon. (Note: Anything in bold blue below [some may look near purple] is a link to something more in the review.)
My reviews’ premise: “You can’t please everyone, so you got to please yourself.”
(from "Garden Party" by Rick Nelson and the Stone Canyon Band, 1972 album of the song’s name)
Here’s the trailer:
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If you can abide plot spoilers read on, but this blog’s intended for those who’ve seen the film or want to save some $ (as well as recognizing those readers like me who just aren’t that tech-savvy). To help any of you who want to learn more details yet avoid these all-important plot-reveals I’ll identify any give-away sentences/sentence-clusters with colors plus arrows:
⇒The first and last words will be noted with arrows and red.⇐ OK, now continue on if you prefer.
For quite some time I’ve been aware of August Wilson as one of the great playwrights of 20th century American theatre, even though, unfortunately, I’ve never seen one of his works on stage; however, I've experienced great pleasure seeing 3 of his famous American Century Cycle (or, called the Pittsburgh Cycle at times, premiering from 1982 to 2005—10 plays, each about events in a specific decade of the 20th century [few recurring characters, though] all but one of them set in his hometown of Pittsburgh, PA—adapted to the big screen, all produced by Denzel Washington as part of his intention to put all 10 on film [since 2015]). What I’ve seen in addition to The Piano Lesson (stage premiere 1987) are Fences (Denzel Washington, 2016, one of my very rare 5-star contemporary films; stage premiere 1985, came to Broadway 1987, won the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and 1987 Tony Awards for Best Play, Best Leading Actor in a Play [James Earl Jones], Best Featured Actress in a Play [Mary Alice], Best Direction of a Play [Lloyd Richards]; revived on Broadway in 2010 when it won Tony Awards for Best Revival of a Play, Best Leading Actor in a Play [Denzel Washington], Best Leading Actress in a Play [Viola Davis]; Washington and Davis reprised their roles in the film adaptation with her winning the Best Supporting Actress Oscar) and Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (George C. Wolfe, 2020, another one of my precious 5-stars ratings; the only one not set in Pittsburgh but, instead, Chicago; stage premiere 1982, came to Broadway in 1984). Regarding The Piano Lesson, like Ma Rainey’s … Denzel is only in the role of producer while his 2 sons take the lead with this time, Malcolm as director, John David as a principal actor (here’s a short video [14:12; ads interrupt at 7:55, 11:49] where they analyze a scene where the men of the story bond over an old slave song [there was a Broadway revival of … Lesson too, in 2022, with John David Washington, Samuel Jackson, Ray Fisher reprising the theatrical roles for the new film]).
So, why you may ask (as you should), don’t I find this one to be of similar 5-stars caliber? I’ll try to explain that as I go (although I’m not fully clear on it myself; maybe I just couldn’t fully connect with it as I do the other 2 adaptations, but certainly there are others who find it to be more compelling, including those who voted to give the play the 1990 Pulitzer Prize for Drama). In somewhat of a defense of my response (thanks, folks), the CCAL’s a bit reserved also with the Rotten Tomatoes positive reviews at 88% while the Metacritic average score drops down to 69% (by contrast, RT has 92% for Fences, 98% for Ma Rainey’s …; the MC score for the former’s 79%, 87% for the latter).
Alissa Wilkinson of The New York Times seems to be in harmony with my response (I'll send her my promised bribe money next week once my checks stop bouncing): “This is Washington’s debut feature, and his directorial eye is not quite up to the raucous staging this requires; it turns choppy and the rhythm is off. [¶] What’s great about the movie is its performances. […] Still, as a film, ‘The Piano Lesson’ is the weakest of the Denzel Washington-produced Pittsburgh Cycle. But when you’re working with Wilson’s material, there’s an inherent richness, and the questions this film raises have never been more potent.” Yet, others find it to be even better, as with Stephanie Zacharek of TIME: “[…] the movie’s true anchor is a performer outside that circle of father and sons. Danielle Deadwyler lights the way through this version of The Piano Lesson; her performance is forged largely from fire and iron, but she has moments of melting vulnerability, too. […] But Berniece isn’t just a repository for her ancestors’ suffering—she’s also a vessel for their perseverance and their joy. In the film’s final moments, you see that joy radiating through her like inner sunlight. She leaves us not with a lesson, but with an invitation to live.” High praise!
Of course, someone had to account for the negative response, so here’s Ty Burr from The Washington Post: “Together, they wrestle August Wilson’s totemic 1987 stage play to the screen, and I regret to report that Wilson does not come out on top. […] Those problems are twofold: direction that never finds a thematic through line or harnesses a consistent energy — the result is a film that lacks shape, despite its first-time filmmaker’s efforts to ‘open it up’ with flashbacks — and a lead performance by John David Washington that’s pitched past the last row of the theater and lands somewhere in the next time zone.” What you might have to say about this film could fall anywhere within this critical spectrum, but first you’d have to see it; you might still be able to find a theater (opened in select domestic [U.S.-Canada] ones on November 8, 2024), but your mostly likely option is streaming where it’s only on Netflix (free to subscribers or sign up for an ad-free $15.49 monthly fee). Of course, you might be more interested if you knew what it’s about, so I'll begin a quick synopsis of a tale in 1936 Depression-era Pittsburgh where Berniece Charles (Danielle Deadwyler) lives with Uncle Doaker (Jackson) and young daughter Maretha (Skylar Aleece Smith), as custodian of a precious family heirloom with a history of their former slave family carved into an upright piano by her great-grandfather (his wife and child were sold to provide funds for slave-owner Sutter to buy the instrument for his wife; in 1911 Berniece’s father stole it for his family, was killed in a retribution).
In the present day, Berniece’s brother, Boy Willie (John David Washington), and his buddy, Lymon (Ray Fisher), have come from Mississippi with a truckload of watermelons they’re going to sell to add to cash Boy Willie’s saved so he can buy the land where his ancestors were enslaved now that the current Sutter descendant has died after mysteriously falling into a well (did Boy Willie push him?), with the required rest of the sale price coming from Berniece selling the piano, which she refuses to do given how crucial she feels it is to the family’s heritage. As the plot unfolds we meet Doaker’s brother, Wining Boy (Michael Potts), a failed-musician/emerging-alcoholic and Avery Brown (Corey Hawkins), an emerging preacher with romantic interest in Berniece (she’s not so sure about that, still mourning deceased husband Crawley) who also has an interest in the piano for his church. But the most troubling presence in the Charles household is the ghost of elder James Sutter (Jay Peterson), seemingly come to avenge his descendant’s death and/or lay his own claim to the marvelous piano.
⇒Tensions arise within the family as various situations arise; however, the ghost is causing the worst problems so Berniece overcomes her reluctance to play the piano in an emotional scene that calls forth the spirits of her ancestors who drive away Sutter’s ghost, leaving Boy Willie now respectful of his sister’s embrace of the piano so he returns to Mississippi.⇐ If you’d like considerably more about the events of this film (with Spoilers) you can refer to the explorations in this site (which leads you to more about August Wilson and his plays). While this is a powerful story of the clash between embracing your past and aspiring to move beyond it, the presentation here comes with a wealth of conflicting character motives and plot events that lead in differing, somewhat confusing directions that keep me from my 5-stars response to Denzel Washington’s previous August Wilson adaptations, but you may find more resonance with it than I did. Certainly it presents the powerful impact of the history of slavery on contemporary African-Americans, enjoys marvelous acting by all concerned (despite Mr. Burr’s objections), and contains at least 2 astounding scenes: the song all the men sing together and the dynamic conclusion with Berniece at that piano.
I’ve rambled on enough, though, so I’ll close out this posing with my usual device of a Musical Metaphor, this time Paul Simon’s “Under African Skies“ (from his astounding 1986 Graceland album) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85rr5SqrCZI, with it’s references to “This is the story of how we begin to remember / This is the powerful pulsing of love in the vein / After the dream of falling and calling your name out / These are the roots of rhythm / And the roots of rhythm remain.” In this film, that rhythm remains in Berniece (Wilson seems to have used a clever spelling of her name, linking her more to her uncles than to her brother) as she powerfully shows us within that nearly-final scene.
SHORT TAKES
Related Links Which You Might Find Interesting:
(1) Los Angeles Film Critics 2024 awards (along with the Boston and Washington D.C.critics' awards) (I’ve barely seen any of these yet); (2) Golden Globes 2025 nominations (I haven’t seen most of these either; I’m going to have a quite busy 2025 early spring); (3) Golden Globes snubs and surprises; (4) IMDb's what's new to TV and streaming in December 2024; (5) IMDb staff picks for December 2024; (6) IMDb's 5 Things to Watch on the week of 12/9/2024; (7) Variety's Top 10 of 2024 from Owen Gleiberman and Peter Debruge (I haven’t seen most of these as well).
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