Title – The Piano Lesson (2024) 

Director – Malcolm Washington (feature debut) 

Cast – John David Washington, Danielle Deadwyler, Samuel L. Jackson, Ray Fisher, Corey Hawkins

Plot – Follows members of the Charles family including Boy Willie (Washington), Berniece (Deadwyler) and Doaker (Jackson) as they discuss and look into the history of their family heirloom, a unique piano steeped in history and intrigue. 

 “You feel that? That’s your family. That’s your blood”

Review by Eddie on 17/03/2025

Produced by Denzel, starring John David and directed by Malcolm, The Piano Lesson is a genuine Washington family affair that showcases talent runs deep in the bloodline made famous by the Oscar winning matriarch.

Released through Netflix, Lesson see’s Malcolm make his directional debut with an adaptation of August Wilson’s original work that enlists the support of a star studded cast including Danielle Deadwyler, Ray Fisher, Corey Hawkins and screen legend Samuel L. Jackson who here reprises a role he once bought to life on stage, with the talented cast ensuring that this talk heavy experience is at the very least engaging on a performance level as the film ebbs and flows between can’t look away and can’t stay awake.

Mostly taking place in the residence of Jackson’s Doaker and Deadwyler’s Berniece’s home as David Washington’s Boy Willie and Ray Fisher’s Lymon try and figure out a way they will be able to convince Berniece to part with her beloved piano, a family heirloom with a chequered history and a potentially supernatural underbelly, Lesson isn’t a grand expose of late 1930’s America but a more intimate and refined one exploring a wider lens through the experience of the Charles family.

As the back and forward goes on between members of the Charles clan and some of their close acquittances there’s not a lot of large-scale cinematic movement for Malcolm Washington to explore but he gets a lot out of his cast and the mood created by famed composer Alexandre Desplat evocative score and its undeniable that when Lesson hits it hits hard thanks in no small way by an awards worthy performance from rising star Deadwyler, who once more showcases here that superstardom is well within her reach.

Brilliantly bringing to life the feisty and determined Berniece, a caring soul who considers that past along with the future, Deadwyler proves with a sense of finality that her notable turns in the likes of Till and The Harder They Fall were no mere flukes and while she’s surrounded by known properties such as Jackson and the divisive John David Washington, she stands out amongst the crowd and gives Lesson an added power that without her would have been hard to conjure up elsewhere.

Unlikely to appeal to those seeking a more casual or visceral experience, Lesson most certainly isn’t easy going/mass appealing movie-making but there’s some important messages to be gleamed from Washington’s considered adaptation that gives it an added weight, giving us enough to suggest that the newest member of the Washington family movie business is going to have a successful career if he so chooses.

Final Say –

Overcoming intermittent moments of dullness and some angles that don’t quite pay-off, The Piano Lesson is still a solid dramatic offering that’s stagey approach gifts plenty of noteworthy acting moments that are often founded around Danielle Deadwyler’s career making turn.

3 watermelons out of 5