Movie Review
Play adaptation The Piano Lesson is a Denzel Washington family affair
John David Washington in The Piano Lesson.
The plays of August Wilson have been getting the big screen treatment in recent years, with Denzel Washington and his family playing a big part. It started in 2016 when Washington directed and starred in Fences. That was followed by other entries in Wilson’s The Century Cycle like Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom in 2020 and now The Piano Lesson, which - like Fences - earned Wilson a Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
This new film is chock-full of Washington family members, as it’s written and directed by Denzel’s son Malcolm, stars his other son John David, features Denzel’s wife and one of his daughters in small roles, and, of course, is produced by Denzel himself. Whether every one of those people has earned the right to be in such a position or is the beneficiary of good old Hollywood nepotism is up for debate, especially given the result.
The title refers to the importance of a certain piano in the history of one Black family. Boy Willy (John David Washington) is a schemer who has big plans to buy land in Mississippi where his ancestors were enslaved, owned by the recently-deceased Sutter (Jay Petersen). He and his friend Lymon (Ray Charles) show up in Pittsburgh to sell watermelons they’ve trucked in from the South and to convince Boy Willy’s sister Berniece (Danielle Deadwyler) to sell the family’s prized piano to help finance the land purchase.
Despite assurances from their uncle Doaker (Samuel L. Jackson) that Berniece will never sell the piano, Boy Willy continues to press the point over a number of days. Taking place almost entirely in one house, the family and friends talk about their history, the meaning of the piano, and whether Sutter is haunting them from beyond the grave through the piano.
One of the reasons that the adaptation of Fences worked is that Wilson was credited as the screenwriter, meaning that Denzel let Wilson’s original words carry the film. Malcolm Washington and Virgil Williams are credited as writers on this film, and while only those intimately familiar with the play will know the difference, there never seems to be a good flow to the story. Conversations seem to start and stop at random, with characters sometimes expressing thoughts that have nothing to do with the topic at hand.
Then there’s the claustrophobic nature of having most of the action take place in one house. While Malcolm varies camera angles to give the film some dimension, he doesn’t do enough to escape the story’s stage origins. While this simplicity worked for Denzel in Fences, the script for this film is not enough to overcome the lack of diversity in its setting.
Like the other works in The Century Cycle, The Piano Lesson attempts to impart the Black experience in the 20th century. The film is somewhat successful in this regard, especially when it tells the story of the carvings on the piano. The supernatural element also carries a lot of psychological weight, as the generations of trauma that resulted from the family’s slavery past are felt in each person’s reaction to the possible sale of the piano.
John David Washington is given the showiest role, and he works well as a character who won’t take no for an answer. Deadwyler is hitting her stride as an actor, and her stoic performance could be an awards contender. Jackson is uncharacteristically subdued, but he has a presence that makes him a great choice for the part. And Fisher is deceptively great, playing the dimwitted Lymon in a way that’s wholly believable.
The translation of a play into a film is always tough, and it takes a certain kind of filmmaker to do it justice. Malcolm Washington, who’s making his feature writing and directing debut, may one day be capable of doing that, but even with his father’s help, he is unable to fully showcase the power of The Piano Lesson.
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The Piano Lesson is now playing at Landmark's Inwood Theatre; it will debut on Netflix on November 22.
