The third film in Denzel Washington’s long-term project to bring the plays of August Wilson to the screen (after Fences and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom), The Piano Lesson is directed by Denzel’s son Malcolm, and features a stellar turn by Malcolm’s older brother, John David Washington. We are in Pittsburgh, 1936. Boy Willie (John David Washington) shows up unannounced at the home of his widowed sister, Berniece (Danielle Deadwyler). He brings with him a friend — Lymon (Ray Fisher) — a truckload of watermelons, and a plan to capitalize on the ornately carved piano that sits, neglected, in the living room. Berniece, however, is having none of it.
Aside from a prologue set in 1911 and a handful of brief flashbacks to slavery times, the action is predominantly restricted to the family parlour; the stage origins are obvious. But that’s no drawback when the dialogue is so richly marbled with resonant ideas, flavourful character, and emotional conflict. Wilson is grappling with the legacy of trauma, here, with different ways of coping with grief and exorcizing the past. It’s a riveting piece, superbly performed.
Samuel L. Jackson, John David Washington, Ray Fisher, Michael Potts, Erykah Badu, Skylar Aleece Smith
USA
2024
English
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits & Director
Executive Producer
Jennifer Roth, Constanza Romero Wilson, Katia Washington
Producer
Denzel Washington, Todd Black
Screenwriter
Virgil Williams, Malcolm Washington
Cinematography
Michael Gioulakis
Editor
Leslie Jones
Production Design
David J. Bomba
Original Music
Alexandre Desplat
Malcolm Washington
Malcolm Washington is a Los Angeles-born filmmaker known for his award-winning short Benny Got Shot (2016). After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania and the American Film Institute, he has produced the short films Summer of ’17 (2017) and The Dispute (2019), and the feature North Hollywood (2021). The Piano Lesson is his feature film directorial debut.
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
The Voice of Hind Rajab
Mixing documentary and reenactment, this film powerfully evokes the desperate attempts of the Red Crescent to rescue a six year old child trapped in a car under Israeli military fire. Oscar nominee: Best International Film
The Chronology of Water
Kristen Stewart's fearless directorial debut is based on the best-selling memoir by Lidia Yuknavitch (Imogen Poots), a chronicle of her abusive childhood, traumatized adulthood, and escapes through swimming, drugs, sex, and ultimately writing.
Montreal, ma belle
In this Valentine to discovering love later in life, the ever-elegant Joan Chen plays Feng Xia, a 53-year-old Chinese immigrant and mother in Montreal whose world is turned upside down when she meets and falls in love with a young Quebecoise.
Spring After Spring
Three daughters strive to live up to the standards set by their mother Marie Mimi Ho, and keep Vancouver Chinatown's Spring Parade going through thick and thin, in this enormously affectionate local documentary by Jon Chiang.