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The Piano Lesson film image; two people feeling a wooden carving on the wall

The Piano Lesson

Special Presentations

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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.

Director
Cast

Samuel L. Jackson, John David Washington, Ray Fisher, Michael Potts, Erykah Badu, Skylar Aleece Smith

Credits
Country of Origin

USA

Year

2024

Language

English

Film Contact
18+
125 min
Black Cinema Drama Family Relations
Netflix, Mundy Lane Entertainment, Escape Artists

Book Tickets

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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 headshot; The Piano Lesson director

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.

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