‘The Piano Lesson’ review: Washington family’s film revival longs for the theatre

Family legacy is at the heart of The Piano Lesson, the new film revival of August Wilson’s seminal 1987 play, both on screen and off. The adaptation is the latest reimagining of the American playwright’s seminal works from producer Denzel Washington, who’s vowed to bring the Pulitzer Prize winner’s complete oeuvre to the screen following 2016’s Fences and 2020’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.

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This time the Washington juniors are brought into the fold to dust off another classic, the Oscar winner’s youngest son Malcolm making his directorial debut with older bro John David starring alongside Samuel L. Jackson and Danielle Deadwyler. Their sister Katia also serves as executive producer, while Malcolm’s twin Olivia and Denzel’s wife Pauletta appear in the film. A Washington family affair indeed.

Set in 1936 Pittsburgh, the period drama follows two siblings who clash over a cherished family piano decorated with intricate carvings narrating their ancestral history. Boy Willie (John David Washington) insists on selling said heirloom to purchase the land their family once worked as slaves, while sister Berniece (Deadwyler) is hellbent on keeping it in her home. Exploring themes of ancestral reparations and generational grief, The Piano Lesson is powerful on paper, but unremarkable on the screen.

Each act passes through a revolving door of genres including historical epic, family drama and gothic horror, making for awkward transitions and rhythmically stunted scenes, except when punctuated with jolting supernatural episodes that ironically shake life back into the picture. There are however a pair of impactful sequences bookending the film, an opening fireworks filled Fourth Of July depicting how the family first reclaimed the piano, and a finale which finds them confronting their ghosts in a spiritual exorcism. The bits inbetween are a little dry though.

There’s a clear love for the source material from all involved, so much so that this adaptation appears to have been transplanted directly from the theatre. But that also means blocking remains static and dulled by clunky cinematography which often finds the camera stuck behind door frames and aimlessly off centre. There’s glimmers of stylistic excellence from Malcolm, but it’s all too fleeting before we’re pulled back between the lines he seems duty-bound to work within.

John David, who’s proven he can hold his own in blockbusters like The Creator and Tenet, delivers a performance that would be ovation worthy if only he were still on the stage he graced alongside Jackson for the 2022 Broadway run. Much like the suffocating 2021 lockdown-era Malcolm & Marie, the screenplay (which he co-wrote with Mudbound’s Virgil Williams), is recited like someone who’s run their lines a few too many times.

Adapting a stage production is always a tricky balancing act between pleasing the purists and risking a bold revamp. By not committing wholeheartedly to either, this version of The Piano Lesson lurks sheepishly somewhere in between, neither here nor there.