The Piano Lesson is one of the best movies of 2024.
It is the latest installment of Denzel Washington’s ambitious dream project to bring all 10 August Wilson Century Cycle plays to the big screen.
Washington directed and starred in Fences (2016) which won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Viola Davis. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (directed by George Wolfe) followed in 2020, winning two Oscars, for makeup and hairstyling as well as costume design. It was an impressive second screen adaptation of a very successful play by a very respected and widely revered playwright.
August Wilson won Pulitzer Prizes for Fences and The Piano Lesson. As one could imagine, there was a ton of pressure riding on the follow-up to Ma Rainey. The Piano Lesson would amount to a daunting challenge to both cast and crew.
In their favor was the success of the Broadway play which starred Samuel L. Jackson, John David Washington (Denzel Washington’s son), Ray Fisher and Michael Potts. All had agreed to come aboard for the film.
Danielle Deadwyler signed on to play Berniece. The casting (which included Denzel’s wife Pauletta Washington, as well as his daughter, Olivia Washington) was perfect across the boards.
With the inclusion of Denzel’s son Malcolm, The Piano Lesson was something of a family affair, with Denzel as Executive Producer.
In the end, it all came together in the creation of an Oscar-worthy film, one of the best of 2024.
The story centers around a treasured family heirloom—a beautifully hand-carved, antique upright piano depicting the family bloodlines dating back to the days of slavery and suffering in Mississippi. Some three decades later, the piano had made its way to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where the story picks up in July of 1936.
Drama arises when two siblings contest ownership of the piano. Boy Willie (John David Washington) wants to sell the piano in order to purchase farmland and a future back in Mississippi. His single-mom sister Berniece (Danielle Deadwyler) strongly opposes the idea, seeing the piano as a priceless family keepsake.
The beauty of A Piano Lesson is the gradual morphing of the story, from a domestic drama to an unsettling ghost story along the lines of the Robert Wise classic, The Haunting (1963) which created sheer terror through the use of suspense and gut-wrenching anxiety. As in many classic horror films, what you don’t see can be much more frightening than anything that appears on the screen. Implied terror (flickering lights, strange sounds and glimpsed apparitions) can be unnerving.
Here, as the story unfolds, it becomes clear that dark forces are present in Berniece’s home, emanating from the piano which she refuses to play, fearing the release of ghosts from the past. As with all great stories, the story works on multiple levels, and they all build to a powerful climax.
Malcolm Washington brings remarkable directing talent to The Piano Lesson, guiding flawless, nuanced performances from his cast and creating a tangible world of the past. The attention to detail focuses down to the 1930s light switches, period furnishings and local bank calendar hanging on the wall in the background. He takes us inside a night at the Crawford Grill for 1930’s music and reverie (a moment reminiscent of scenes from Ma Rainey).
Malcolm has a command of camera movement and performance that takes The Piano Lesson to the level of Oscar worthiness, not only for directing, but for writing, acting, art direction, cinematography and editing as well. It is a well-crafted movie, worthy of its acclaimed source material.
The Piano Lesson is a clever title. It isn’t about someone learning to play the piano. It is instead, the story of a piano that teaches a family about history, heritage and the things that forever bind us to our past.
Comments