THE PIANO LESSON

US, 2024, 127 minutes, Colour.

Samuel L.Jackson, John David Washington, Danielle Deadwyler, Ray Fisher, Corey Hawkins, Michael Potts, Stephan James.

Directed by Malcolm Washington.

The film version of one of the several plays by August Wilson tracing the history of African Americans and the exploration of their culture – Fences, Ma Rainey’s Bottom… It has been adapted for the screen with Malcolm Washington directing.

Producer Denzel Washington, father of Malcolm and of the star, John David, with his wife Paulette and daughter Olivia having cameo roles as mother and daughter, when asked what audiences would get out of the film, replied that it depended what audiences brought to the film.

To this extent, it is very much a film for African-Americans, the background of slavery, the domination of the South, emancipation, racism, African-American culture and traditions, moving into the conflicts and freedoms of the 20^th century.

The film opens in 1911, celebration of Independence Day, a white celebration while, at the same time, a group of black men are taking a piano from a landowner’s house and sending it to Pittsburgh. The father of the family is pursued and killed.

The action takes place mainly in Pittsburgh in 1936, one of the sons, Boy Willie, John David Washington, coming with his friend Lyman, Ray Fisher, with a truckload of watermelons to sell to get money to buy a property of the landowner who has died falling down a well. He hopes to sell the piano to raise the rest of the money for the sale. However, he experiences the clash with his sister, Berneice, a widow with a daughter, Danielle Deadwyler. The patriarch of the house is played by Samuel L.J ackson. Also in the cast are one of his brothers who is visiting as well as the local pastor who aims at building a church.

This is very much filmed theatre but with a number of exterior sequences. However, it is very much a film of words and performance. Central to the drama of the family is the sense of ghosts and spirits haunting, the effect on families, the need for some kind of exorcism.

The wider audience will be interested in this exploration of African-American themes but may often feel that they are observing from the outside.

1. The work of August Wilson? Theatre? Cinema? African-American themes in history?
2. 1911, July 4, the south, the White celebration, patriotism, colour and song? The contrast with the African-Americans, the situation, Mississippi, work, owners, the piano, the stealing, pushing and carrying it, the escape, with Boy Willie, Boy Charlie, the fire, the pursuit, his death?
3. 1936, the desert, the city, the neighbourhoods, the black area? Homes, the streets, nightclubs, church? The musical score, the songs and their lyrics, atmosphere?
4. The theatricality of the piece, on stage, most of the action within the house, the external scenes, Mississippi, the pursuit of Boy Charlie, the drive, the sales of the watermelons? The visual equivalence of the words?
5. The focus on Boy Willie, his age, his mother and father, the memories of 1911, the piano? The death of Sutter, falling down the well, huge man, suspicions, the Yellow Ghost, Berneice asserting that Boy Willie pushed him? The visuals? His friendship with Lyman, the truck, driving to Pittsburgh, the watermelons, the sale, hopes for the money for a for the land?
6. Doaker, the uncle, his brothers, his work, settling in the North, his personality, observing, intervening? Berneice, her experience in the south, the death of her husband, mourning for him, her daughter? Her bitter attitudes? Antagonism towards Boy Willie? Her bitter words, the relationship with Avery? Raising the funds? Avery’s proposal, her harsh response? The scenes of antagonism with Boy Willie? Her nerves, the apparition of Sutter, Boy Willie’s sceptical reaction? The conversations about his appearing, Joker, the daughter? The ominous presence?
7. Lyman, more simple, from the South, wanting to stay in the North, accompanying Boy Willie, their shared experiences, his conversation, the watermelons, in the house, Boy Wining and the bargaining with the suit, shirt, shoes? His going out, at the club, the music, the conversation, his return, the encounter with Berneice, the perfume, the kiss, her response?
8. Boy Wining, his past, one of the brothers, the news of his wife’s death, the music, his drinking, in the house, cheerful, contribution to the controversies?
9. The buildup to a climax, Berneice, the anxieties, Avery’s coming to exorcise the ghosts, the quoting of the scripture, Boy Willie and his experience, the struggle with the ghost, his return downstairs? The reconciliation with Berneice?
10. Love and tensions within the family? The future?
11. And the symbolism of the piano, stolen from Sutter, transfer to the North, the mother playing it, the flashbacks of mother and daughter, Berneice playing it, stopping when her mother died, the carvings on the piano, the family heritage, not selling it, Avery wanting to start the Church, Boy Willie wanting to sell it for buying the property?