La Leçon de piano

The Piano Lesson, delves into the lives of a Black family grappling with their history during a time marked by oppression and loss. The story focuses on Bernice (Danielle Deadwyler) and her daughter, who live with her uncle Doaker (Samuel L. Jackson). The plot unfolds as Bernice's brother, Boy Willie (John David Washington), visits, and we gradually uncover the family's past, including the mystery of Bernice's late husband and the deep significance of their treasured piano.

The film explores weighty themes such as Black slavery, grief, guilt, single motherhood, and moral dilemmas. Adapted from August Wilson's play, part of his celebrated Pittsburgh Cycle (which also includes Fences and Ma Rainey's Black Bottom), the movie carries a similar pacing and tone, though it feels closer to Fences in structure.

Danielle Deadwyler delivers an outstanding performance, portraying Bernice with emotional depth and nuance. She is undoubtedly a rising star, evoking comparisons to Viola Davis. Her performance deserves serious awards consideration. By contrast, I found John David Washington's portrayal of Boy Willie overacted, making it harder to connect with his character. Samuel L. Jackson and Ray Fisher (as Lymon) brought solid supporting performances, grounding the narrative effectively.

The cinematography and direction were immersive, giving the house and the piano a lived-in, almost iconic feel. The dialogue is beautifully written, seamlessly weaving past and present. While I found the ending slightly overdone, the film's overall impact remains strong.

I would rate The Piano Lesson a 7/10-higher than Ma Rainey's Black Bottom but slightly behind Fences. Danielle Deadwyler's performance alone makes this film worth watching, and the music and writing are nothing short of masterful.

I was surprised at the low rating for this film. I was not familiar with the play or the previous movie version, however, like other August Wilson's work, I really liked it. There was some strong acting and a it's a moving and memorable story.

Again, as in her acting in Till, I was so impressed with Danielle Deadwylers performance. She is definitely a stand out. I hope she get the accolades she deserves during the award season.

The story deals with slavery, a subject many are uncomfortable with, however it is a major part of American history. I thought it was handled thoughtfully. Don't let the subject matter stop you from seeing this!

It reminds me "Fences" - another Washington production with Washington in the leading role. I guess it is me and my taste, because in that experience and on this current, the results were the same. Big appreciation to the leading actors, but not less boredom, due to the content.

This time it is based on a play by August Wilson, and it definitely feels like an adaptation for a play. The actors are gathered in one location for most of the movie's runtime and most of the time they are talking with one other, until the end of the film, which takes a wild twist for different types of genre.

One of the most interesting themes of this movie is the Washingtons. Malcolm Washington is the director, John David Washington is one of the main characters and of course Papa Denzel is one of the producers. Not enough? Sister Olivia Washington and Mama Pauletta are both in minor parts of the cast.

John David has upgraded his level of acting in this one. He is like fire and also has dynamite dynamic and chemistry with Danielle Deadwyler, which proves once again that she is one of the best and underrated actresses in Hollywood of these days.

A small surprise in a very good role is Ray Fisher, that everyone knows as Cyborg. And Sam Jackson will be Sam Jackson. Marvellous as always. He is not a main character but contributes in his own special way without stealing the thunder of both main characters.

The story revolves around two siblings that meet after a lot of time they didn't meet and have an argument about selling or keeping a nostalgic Piano. No piano lessons will be learned with any piano teacher. However, lessons from this piano's history will be taught by the pound and those two will verbally brawl, until spilling out all the bad blood between them and their ancestors.

That takes us to the pace and rhythm of this movie. Seems that even the actors' abilities cannot prevent the audience from the desire to set their heads on the couch and go to sleep, throughout some major parts of the movie. Maybe as a theatre show it would be much more successful, but for cinema and especially home cinema, it doesn't work so well.

Rating - 6.8: Overall, a film very similar to other August Wilson works, as it uses authentic dialogue and good acting, especially from Danielle Deadwyler, to tell a profound story; but the movie is held back by its amateur filmmaking and inconsistent tone.

Direction - Pretty Bad: The direction on a macroscale feels very amateur and not that well executed; the direction on a microscale is fine as it mimics other August Wilson movies in that it allows the actors to act with minimal intervention, similar to a play; the storytelling is a bit muddy as they did not know what tone they wanted to go with throughout the movie; tension is not built that well because they try to force this horror, ghost story that is not that well executed

Story - Decent: The concept deviates from the original play and makes the movie an unnecessary supernatural ghost story, which kind of hurts the story dealing with the generational trauma from their ancestors; the plot structure is nothing special; the character writing is not that great because they keep introducing many characters and do not do a good job providing them backstory to make you root for them, except for maybe Deadwyler's character

Screenplay - Good: The dialogue is very authentic to the source material and other August Wilson works; the humor is pretty true to other August Wilson works; the symbolism is profound as the whole movie deals with generational trauma this family has dealt with from slavery and racism; the foreshadowing is present but kinda expected

Acting - Pretty Good to Good: Samuel L. Jackson - Good (Feels like he pulls a lot from his experience as an actor in this role, but he does not feel like he is used as much as he should have been), John David Washington - Pretty Good to Good (Plays the lead role decently well, as this character feels like it plays to his strengths as an actor), Ray Fisher - Pretty Bad (Really feels off in comparison to the rest of the cat as his comedic humor feels very forced), Michael Potts - Pretty Good to Good, Erykah Badu - Pretty Good, Skylar Aleece Smith - Pretty Good, Danielle Deadwyler - Very Good (Steals the show in all her scenes as she shows a wide range of emotions and accurately displays a mother trying to hold onto her family and ancestry), Corey Hawkins - Good (Plays his role well and has good chemistry with Deadwyler), Rest of the cast - Pretty Good to Good (The cast as a whole works well together; it was evident that the director let the actors act in a way similar to the play)

Score - Decent: Used decently well throughout the movie; for a movie called 'The Piano Lesson' it would have been great to have at least heard one piano motif throughout the movie, so not having this feels like a wasted opportunity

Cinematography - Pretty Bad: Felt pretty amateur and not that well executed, especailly in the climax

Editing - Pretty Bad: Felt pretty amateur

Sound - Pretty Good: Helps enhance those horror elements

Visual Effects - Pretty Bad: Felt pretty tacky

Production Design - Good: Felt authentic to the time period

Costumes - Good: Felt authentic to the time period

Pacing - Pacing is pretty slow as it tries to mimic the play's pacing

Climax - Climax is chaotic and poorly executed; the ending felt very anticlimactic

Tone - Tone is a big issue for this movie because there never felt like there was a consistent tone as they tried to make this movie both a historical drama and a ghost story; they tried to do a lot of things and couldn't do any of them well

Final Notes - Saw premiere at the Austin Film Festival.

I was really hoping I'd love this, but I didn't. It was visually authentic, but the music was completely destroyed! How do you miss on something as important as the music, in this play??? The "Berta Berta" scene was completely altered, and "Rambling, Gambling Man" was nowhere to be found. Damn shame. They also never show the Yellow Dog train, just smoke! What?

Don't get me started on how stupid they made Lymon. He wasn't dumb in the play, just lonely, naive, and sensitive. I really hated his portrayal. Secondly, Charles Dutton will forever be my favorite Boy Willie. Baby boy Washington just wasn't getting it.

It's not completely messed up, just too different for my tastes. The Washingtons should have just kept the classic aspects in tact.