Telluride Film Review: ‘The Piano Lesson’ Features Strong Acting Alongside a Story That Doesn’t Always Hit Home

August Wilson stage adaptations are not easy. There’s a reason why it has taken so long to see them come to the screen. So, the mere existence of The Piano Lesson is admirable. The fact that the Washington family made this such a passion project only further hammers home how much this story can mean to someone. Now, that doesn’t always translate to the audience, but strong acting carries the day. Premiering at the Telluride Film Festival, it’s a more uneven movie than expected, but ultimately one worth recommending.

The Piano Lesson doesn’t fully escape its stage origins, visually, and a move towards the supernatural feels silly, but the central performances are often mesmerizing, with one in particular absolutely stealing the show. The reverence to the source material cuts both ways, giving lots of good material to play with, but also a slightly bloated feel. So, while this is a mixed bag at times, there’s more good than not here.

This is the story of the Charles family. After a prologue that serves of an origin story for the musicial instrument at the center of it all, we meet the clan. Boy Willie (John David Washington) has come up north to Pittsburgh to the home of his uncle Doaker (Samuel L. Jackson). Doaker lives with Boy Willie’s sister Berniece (Danielle Deadwyler) and her daughter Maretha (Skylar Smith). The piano resides here, too, and Boy Willie, along with his friend Lymon (Ray Fisher), has come to claim it.

What follows is a continuing argue between siblings over what to do with the piano. Boy Willie is a sharecropper who wants to sell the piano in order to buy land from the Sutter family who once enslaved the Charles family. In doing so, he’d be, in his eyes, honoring his father and setting himself up with something in this world. Berniece wants to keep the piano, since it has carved faces on it of their great-grandfather’s wife and son during the days of their enslavement. It also connects her to her departed mother. As they fight, other characters like Wining Boy (Michael Potts) and Avery (Corey Hawkins) come and go, while the spirit of something, or someone, begins to ominously make its presence felt.

Danielle Deadwyler is easily best in show, with a fierce performance that only gets more affecting as it goes on. As we learn more and more about what the piano means to her, our investment in her grows larger. John David Washington is big and loud here, a force of nature, and while it’s not as nuanced as Deadwyler, it’s still strong work. Samuel L. Jackson is good, too, but incredibly restrained in a role that’s smaller than you think. Ray Fisher has a more memorable supporting turn as a big man with a kind heart. Michael Potts and Corey Hawkins are solid, for sure, especially Potts, but Fisher leaves a bigger impression. In addition to Skylar Smith, the cast also includes Erykah Badu, Stephan James, Matrell Smith, and more.

Co-writer/director Malcolm Washington makes this a family affair. His father Denzel Washington is a producer, he’s directing an adaptation he co-wrote with Virgil Williams, and his brother John David is one of the leads. So, this clearly means a ton to him, elevating the Wilson play to the screen. In his casting choices, Washington is on point. However, he and Williams never fully merge the family drama and supernatural elements together, so they feel out of different movies. It’s not a big issue, but it did keep taking me out of the story, for what that’s worth.

The Piano Lesson is good, even if for me, it wasn’t great. Now, the story may end up meaning more to you, and if so, then add a half star. My main issue is just the ghost element not feeling like it fits with the narrative. More or less of it would have been better. Regardless, Deadwyler’s performance is among the Telluride highlights so far, and that’s not nothing.

SCORE: ★★★