Piano Lesson, The (United States, 2024)

For Malcolm Washington, The Piano Lesson was something of a family affair. For his directorial debut, the filmmaker recruited his brother, John David Washington, to play the lead, while his father, Denzel, produced. The screenplay, which Malcolm co-wrote, is based on the 1987 Pulitzer Prize-winning play by August Wilson. It’s one of Wilson’s series of ten plays that he dubbed “The Pittsburgh Cycle.” Not coincidentally, another member of The Pittsburgh Cycle, Fences, was brought to the screen by Denzel. A third, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, was also produced by Denzel.

The movie combines the family dynamics of an ordinary black working class Pittsburgh clan with supernatural elements. At least in this telling, the former are significantly stronger than the latter. I was never invested in the ghost story aspects of The Piano Lesson, in part because they are only half-developed and seem more like “background color” than an essential narrative cog – at least until the back end of the last act where their prominence becomes outsized.

The Piano Lesson opens with a prologue set in 1911 Mississippi that details the efforts of a man named Boy Charles (Stephan James) to steal an old piano from the plantation-owning (white) Sutters. Fifty years prior, the Sutters had owned Boy Charles’ ancestors, and he views the piano as his rightful legacy. When the Sutters discover what Boy Charles has done, they burn down his house – but the piano is successfully smuggled away to Pittsburgh.

25 years later, Boy Willie (John David Washington), Boy Charles’ son, arrives in the Steel City accompanied by his friend Lymon (Ray Fisher) in a barely working truck hauling a load of watermelons. Their goal: make enough money so Boy Willie can buy part of the Sutter plantation now that the previous owner, James Sutter, has died. In order to afford the purchase, he needs the proceeds from the watermelon sales alongside the money that would come from selling the piano, which currently resides with his sister, Berniece (Danielle Deadwyler). Berniece, who lives in a house owned by her uncle Doaker (Samuel L. Jackson), flatly refuses to agree to the sale. She is on bad terms with her brother, blaming him for an incident years ago that resulted in the death of her husband. Meanwhile, an apparition begins appearing in the house that Berneice believes to be the ghost of James Sutter (she thinks her brother killed him). Boy Willie, however, thinks her imagination is playing tricks on her.

As is typical of a Wilson play, the movie focuses on the everyday interaction of family members. The playwright once said of his work, “I think my plays offer [White Americans] a different way to look at Black Americans. For instance, in Fences they see a garbageman, a person they don't really look at, although they see a garbageman every day. By looking at Troy's life, White people find out that the content of this Black garbageman's life is affected by the same things – love, honor, beauty, betrayal, duty. Recognizing that these things are as much part of his life as theirs can affect how they think about and deal with Black people in their lives.” Likewise, in The Piano Lesson, we see that the way the characters interact with each other includes universal elements – love, humor, resentment, pain – that people of all creeds and colors can embrace.

The piano represents the source of conflict between Boy Willie and Berniece. It means something very different to each of them – a path forward for Boy Willie and a monument to the past for his sister. Bridging the gap is key to them being able to mend their relationship and move forward. As important as this is to the narrative core, some of the secondary interactions are more compelling. One of my favorite scenes is a semi-comedic bit in which Uncle Wining Boy (Michael Potts) sells Lymon a suit. Another is a quasi-romantic tete-a-tete between Lymon and Berniece.

As for the ghostly apparition, it’s sufficiently de-emphasized for most of the movie to prevent it from upstaging the human elements. It ultimately functions as a sort of deus ex machina to move things toward a conclusion but no one will mistake The Piano Lesson for a horror film. Netflix recognized that the film’s theatrical potential was marginal at best and opted instead for a primarily streaming release. Despite widespread critical praise, the film was not recognized by the Academy. It remains available, however, and is as effective on the smaller screen as it likely would have been on the larger one. With impeccable period details, top-notch performances, and the text of one of the 20th century’s most lauded plays, The Piano Lesson represents one of Netflix’s stronger unsung late-2024 drops.

Piano Lesson, The (United States, 2024)