A Vida de Miles Davis

Don Cheadle Directs Himself as Miles Davis, Nice Job on what If I remember correctly is his directorial debut. The film ping-pongs back and forth from the early 80's, right before Miles comes back from a 5 year or so hiatus to the 50's/60's era when he was married to dancer Frances Taylor.

The film has a madcap side to it with Ewan Mcgregor in a fun turn as a Rolling Stone reporter out to interview Miles and almost doubling as Miles' sidekick in a romp through the city (New York?) in the early 80's.

I don't want to give much away but I recommend the film, it is pretty amusing and jazz + biopic fans will find much to enjoy!

As the reviews of Miles Ahead amass on the Internet I'll be interested to read all the different ways people will have to describe Don Cheadle's electrifying performance as jazz great Miles Davis. Or should I say "social music" great, a term Mr. Davis preferred to jazz, according to this biopic. I'd never heard this term before, looked it up online after the movie ended, but couldn't find any definition that fit what I thought Mr. Davis might have meant. What it meant to me though, after being treated to a sumptuous sampling of Miles Davis music in the film, is that there's no better musical expression of the human soul than jazz if done right. In Miles Ahead, Don Cheadle seems to be able to relate to that. As for his portrayal of Miles Davis in general, he plays a man who lays everything on the line in everything he does. Total honesty. Total this feels right so I'm going to do it. No-bs, no-putting-up-with-bs attitude. From violence and crudeness to stunning beauty - this is humanity unadulterated. The movie's high points, to me, are the stunning beauty scenes - when Mr. Davis plays the horn. That is the culmination of everything.

Still, it's ironic that while Don Cheadle seems to get not only jazz, but the concept of creativity - starting off the movie with the Miles Davis quote "When you're creating your own sh**, man, even the sky ain't the limit" - Miles Ahead is limited by being formulaic. In other words, the movie itself is not jazz, though at times it tries to be and wants you to think it is. For example, there is too much clichéd man/woman relationship drama in the film, and while I get that Miles' love of women is necessary to portray for the all-important character development, Miles Ahead gets a little schmaltzy at times, if only because I'd seen the same kind of drama scenes more or less so many times before in so many Hollywood movies.

Overall, Miles Ahead is a passionate tribute, beautifully done, and the love that Don Cheadle had for the project and for Miles Davis really shines through.

'MILES AHEAD': Four Stars (Out of Five)

A mostly fictional biopic on jazz music legend Miles Davis, starring Don Cheadle as Davis. Cheadle also directed the movie (marking his feature film directorial debut), and he co-wrote the script as well; with Steven Baigelman (who also wrote the recent James Brown music biopic 'GET ON UP'), Stephen J. Rivele and Christopher Wilkinson (Rivele and Wilkinson have also co-written other hit biopics, like 'NIXON', 'ALI' and 'PAWN SACRIFICE'). The film also costars Ewan McGregor, Emayatzy Corinealdi and Michael Stuhlbarg. It received a limited indie theatrical release in theaters, and it's gotten mostly positive reviews from critics (although not that positive). I enjoyed it more than I thought I would.

The story takes place at multiple different times in Miles Davis's (Cheadle) life, and it jumps around between them. The bulk of the film takes place in the 70s, and it revolves around a fictional adventure that Davis goes on, in an attempt to get a stolen tape recording back (of his recent music) from a greedy record producer (Stuhlbarg). He has help from an ambitious music reporter (McGregor). The movie also heavily focuses on Davis's troubled relationship with his wife (Corinealdi).

I'm not a big fan of biopics (because of how aimless, long and boring they often are) but I enjoyed this movie, because it's not a traditional biopic. A lot of the film is more like a fictional caper flick, with Miles Davis in it, and I think that makes for a much more entertaining movie (as a result). Cheadle is also fantastic in the lead, and he shows a lot of talent as a director here. I think the film is definitely worth seeing, whether you're a big Miles Davis fan or not.

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"Miles Ahead" (2015 release; 100 min.) is a movie about the jazz legend Miles Davis. As the movie opens, we are in 1980, and Miles is being interviewed, and comments to the reporter: "Don't call my music jazz, it's social music!". It's not long before another reporter, Rolling Stone's Dave Braden, chases down Miles, to write a "come-back story in Miles' own words". We then go back to the 1950s, as Miles is breaking big. One day he meets Francis, and he is immediately smitten with her. To tell you more would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: first and foremost, this movie is a labor of love AND a tour-de-force by Don Cheadle, who stars in the title role and directs, and he also co-wrote the script and co-produced. His performance as Miles Davis is spot-on, and towers above everyone else. Sorry Ewan McGregor (as the Rolling Stone reporter), and sorry also Emayatzy Corinealdi (as Frances). Cheadle's brilliant performance covers up the somewhat confusing back-and-forth between the "present" (i.e. late 70s) and the flashbacks in the 50s. Please note that "Miles Ahead" is not a bio-pic, nor is it intended as one. Cheadle (whose vision for the film was fully supported by the Miles family) simply picked two periods of Miles' life and attempts to give us a flavor of what Miles Davis the man was like. At that, I think Cheadle succeeds. If you don't care for the music of Miles Davis (?), by all means avoid this film, as it is chock-full of outstanding music (check out the excellent soundtrack, available here on Amazon). The very last scene of the movie is a live performance with participating in the band none other that Herbie Hancock, Gary Clark Jr. and Esperanza Spalding, just to name those. Just fantastic. Last but not least, I would be remiss if I didn't point out that 95% of the movie was shot on location here in Cincinnati. Yes indeed, just like Todd Haynes' film "Carol" a few months ago, there are certain sections of Cincinnati that apparently easily stand in for New York back in the day.

"Miles Ahead" finally opened this weekend on two screens at my local art-house theater here in Cincinnati, and the Sunday early evening screening where I saw this at was attended quite nicely. I doubt that this movie is going score huge at the box office, but hopefully it'll find some legs at the art-house theater circuit. If you are curious to find out more about Miles Davis, or simply want to admire the stellar performance of Don Cheadle, you cannot go wrong with "Miles Ahead", be it in the theater, on VOD, or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Miles Ahead tells the story... well, not quite. The story of Miles Davis in the 70's. Going back and forth to the 50's. With all my love to the man himself, I gotta say the movie isn't so good. Let me break it down a little: When you want to see a biography about a person, you would normally want to see his journey, his creations and art being shown, a bit of his struggles and personal life. You don't want to see a fictional journey of the person that has nothing to do with the man himself.

I have stated in the past that there have been many biography movies in the past few years depicting the lives of celebrities, when so many origin movies are being made so it loses its specificity and becomes cheap and ordinary.

In Miles Davis's case, they made a complete fictional story surrounding Miles, something a bit bizarre and odd. Even though I was a bit interested with this sort of plot. I would have rather done another biography depicting Miles Davis's career, the start, the middle and end. Have the movie focus on the music only. The music is what's important.

Luckily we do get to hear all of Miles's music, from "Kind of Blue" and "Sketches of Spain" to the 80's music.

Overall I guess the whole fictional shenanigan journey was just not good enough for the movie and probably was better to have a more simple plot line.