The Piano Lesson
Hold on to history
July 4th, 1911. White families buy snacks and sit on a lawn in the dark of a warm summer night, taking in a brilliant fireworks display set to John Philip Sousa’s The Washington Post March. Then something happens that I’ve never seen in a film before: right as a firework explodes loudly and brilliantly, we cut to the same firework from a greater distance: we know this because the sound has changed: we’re not too far away, but definitely further. The camera rolls back, and we see a young Black boy (Isaiah Gunn) looking up at the streaking colors. A Black man (Stephan Charles) takes him by the shoulder: “If you see anybody comin,g I need you to whistle.” The older man is distressed. Inside the currently uninhabited house, we see several Black men quickly find an ancient Piano, hoist it onto rollers, and push it out the back and onto a wagon. The wagon rolls into the night, and the older Black man stays behind at the house. The fireworks rage above, and the band plays on.
The Piano Lesson (2024) is a jarring story of a family torn between holding onto its history while trying to figure out its future. I’m not sure who is in charge of marketing the fact that Denzel Washington is quietly producing each film from August Wilson’s Century Cycle, but this film came and went in 2024 to little fanfare, which is a shame. The thing about plays is, no matter when they’re set, they’re about the time that they’re written in. And despite the time they’re written in, their emotional core will either ring true or it won’t. Wilson’s Century Cycle is one of the most fascinating projects in the history of modern playwriting. 10 plays, each set in a different decade of 1900s America. For example, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (2020) is set in the ’20s, while Fences (2016) is set in the ‘50s. Given that the plays of the Cycle came out between 1982 and 2005, their insight into the Black experience in America feels as relevant today as it ever has, and further, their emotional resonance rings loud and clear. I defy you not to feel a mounting weight of sorrow when Berniece (Danielle Deadwyler) explains the significance of the piano in a heartbreaking monologue.
Speaking of monologues: when’s the last time you heard a monologue in real life? Not a monologue in a play or a film: a real-life emotional outburst? (Hopefully, it’s not something you hear too often.) A monologue represents an emotional breaking point, and when it’s done right in a play or a movie, it can be remarkable. August Wilson’s knack for diving into the hearts of his characters after he sets them in motion and extracting their deepest fears and hangups is unmatched.
Back to the plot of The Piano Lesson: 25 years later, in 1936, the young Black boy has grown up and has plans to make a better future for himself. Boy Willie (John David Washington) has loaded a truck with watermelons and driven to Pittsburgh with his friend Lymon (Ray Fisher) to sell so that he can buy the land of the old racist farmer Sutter (Jay Peterson). To raise enough money to take the land, however, he needs to sell the piano that currently resides in the house of his sister, Berniece. If you had a family heirloom that contained memories and stories of your family’s journey to make their way in a new land, would you consider selling it to continue that journey yourself? Would you let a family member sell it?
The Piano Lesson is a solid telling of August Wilson’s play, with a stellar cast that brings the dialogue to life. I haven’t even mentioned that Sam Jackson reminds us in this movie how exceptionally he can inhabit a character and make them feel three-dimensional. At one point, a spiritual sung by all the male leads in the living room of the house transports you to yet another layer of the story. There are scenes added to the narrative (the film allows for much more scenery, after all) that don’t feel like they add much to Wilson’s narrative, but then there are liberties taken with the stage directions that feel revelatory. Director and writer Malcolm Washington deserves credit for finding a modern sensibility for this story that is faithful to the text. As the story thumps towards its resolution, you can’t help but feel that multiple generations of storytellers are converging on this story of multiple generations perfectly, even if no one’s paying attention.
The Piano Lesson
Written by August Wilson, Malcolm Washington, and Virgil Williams; Directed by Malcolm Washington
2024
127 minutes
English
Recommended way to watch (at time of publication): Streaming on Netflix
You’ll like this if you like: Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom(2020), Hereditary(2018)