The Piano Lesson (2024)
Directed by: Malcolm Washington
Premise: Adapted from the play by August Wilson. Set in 1936, Black siblings fight over the right to a piano. The brother wants to sell it and use the money to buy a plot of land while the sister insists on keeping the piano as a family heirloom.
What Works: The Piano Lesson is a story of family identity and specifically the way slavery has shaped the trajectory of a Black family. The story centers on Willie and Bernice (John David Washington and Danielle Deadwyler), siblings who share custody of a family piano. Willie has come up with a scheme to buy a plot of land and has an entire business plan mapped out for the family’s future but to buy that land he needs the proceeds from selling the piano. Bernice refuses to sell. To her the piano’s value goes beyond money. It is engraved with the images of their ancestors and the instrument had formally belonged to the family slaveowner. The conflict between the siblings is fascinating in the way it dramatizes how families fight over their legacy and the extent to which the past determines the future. The brother is looking forward, wanting to build a new life that comes at the cost of breaking with the past, whereas the sister sees her present as tethered to historical struggles. Filmmaker Malcolm Washington, in his debut directorial feature, does an excellent job adapting this stage play to cinema. It’s very well shot; the filmmakers stage and shoot the action in ways that pick up on the subtext. The movie feels of its time period but The Piano Lesson has a lot of style. The performances are terrific, especially John David Washington and Danielle Deadwyler as Willie and Bernice, but the supporting cast are also quite good and add a lot of character to the movie especially Corey Hawkins and Michael Potts.
What Doesn’t: The Piano Lesson includes a supernatural component in which the family is haunted by the ghost of a slave holder. This is the film’s weakest element. The haunting is tied to the family’s history and to the piano so the supernatural element serves an important story function but it’s not done very well. The residents of the house don’t seem particularly bothered by the fact that they are haunted by the ghost of their parent’s slaveholder except when the specter manifests which it does seemingly at random. The supernatural element comes in and out of the story in a way that feels disconnected from the rest of the film. Stylistically and tonally, these scenes don’t quite fit with the rest of the picture. The climax plays as something out of The Conjuring series and the set piece uses possession and haunting clichés. As a resolution to the family conflict, the supernatural ending feels like an easy out that doesn’t really address the sibling’s disagreement.
Disc extras: Available on Netflix.
Bottom Line: The Piano Lesson dramatizes big ideas but grounds them in the nuances of a family drama. The filmmakers struggle to incorporate the supernatural element but the cast is great and this is an impressive debut feature from director Malcolm Washington.
Episode: #1031 (January 12, 2025)