'The Piano Lesson' Review

Another August Wilson play-to-movie adaptation has released, featuring Denzel Washington's sons, John David and Malcolm! My ratings are as follows:

Plot 9/10
Acting 9/10
Directing 7/10
Writing 10/10
Cinematography 8/10
Soundtrack 9/10
Effects 8/10
Lighting 8/10
Color 8/10
Emotional Impact 8/10

Overall: 84/100

I was lucky enough to see The Piano Lesson in its limited release, prior to it moving to Netflix on the 22nd. The film is based off of August Wilson's Pulitzer Winning play of the same name and is a part of Denzel's life-goal to transfer all of Wilson's plays to the screen. The story deals with questions of generational trauma, black history in America, and the question of 'what do you do with your legacy, and how do you best put it to use'? Obviously the plot and writing were incredible as August Wilson is one of, if not the, greatest playwright of all-time. My only issue is the he was a PLAYwright, not a screen writer. And that is NOTHING against Wilson, but it's undeniable that his dialogue is more fit for the stage, in a beautiful way. Which I think has been my issue with a lot of these adaptations. Wilson is a poet with the way he writes, and he does it for the stage so masterfully, but the stage and screen are two different entities, so while the writing was incredible, I found it didn't work for the screen. The acting was fantastic and I could see John David Washington and Danielle Deadwyler in the running for Oscar Noms. Malcolm Washington did a fine job in his debut, I'd love to see how he would handle an original script because there was style to his directing, but it felt restrained due to the nature of the piece. All-in-all, this is a solid film with great performances and an incredible story!

Thanks for Sitting on the Sidelines!

Zeke H. Bennett