‘The Piano Lesson’ Hits the Right Notes and Does August Wilson Proud

Translating a stage play to screen is a tricky business.

Netflix’s The Piano Lesson marks the third in a recent series of August Wilson stage-to-screen adaptations (Fences, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom preceding it), and the love and care taken to translate Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning drama is very evident. Director Malcolm Washington clearly feels an affinity for the material, no doubt stemming from his father’s (Denzel Washington) well documented love of Wilson’s plays. As such, it probably ranks as the best of the recent Wilson cinematic adaptations.

The Piano Lesson begins on July 4, 1911, as a group of Black men break into a wealthy landowner’s house and steal a piano, elegantly carved with a menagerie of faces. We flash-forward to 1936, shortly after the Great Depression, as Boy Willie (John David Washington) and Lymon (Ray Fisher) drive to Pittsburgh with a truck full of watermelons to sell. The real reason for the trip becomes quickly apparent as Boy Willie reveals he’s raising money to buy land once tended by his slave ancestors. Selling the watermelons only gets him partially there, and he wants to sell the family’s piano, now owned by his sister Berniece (Danielle Deadwyler) who lives with their uncle Doaker Charles (Samuel L. Jackson).

What makes this play and its film adaptation so compelling is the dual sides to dealing with generational trauma. Boy Willie wants to rise above their ancestor’s struggles and dehumanization, but Berniece is literally haunted by it, at first evidenced by her refusal to abandon the piano and later by physical manifestations of the ghosts of their past. Generational trauma is extremely prominent in film and television right now with The Piano Lesson and A Real Pain both dealing heavily with the subject. I suppose the legacy of 9-11 and other modern horrors have allowed us to put a specific name to it, although clearly it’s been lingering throughout culture for decades. Here, the subject of generational trauma is no longer the subtext — it’s full-on text.

Malcolm Washington makes a strong filmmaking debut with The Piano Lesson. Any director would be challenged to adapt not only a stage play but one of this depth and impact, but he opens the material successfully and avoids a sense of claustrophobic staging. He’s fortunate to have many of the recent Broadway revival cast members (Jackson, Fisher, Washington) reprise their roles for the screen, which gives their performances a lived-in sense.

As Berniece, Danielle Deadwyler owns the film. When she’s on screen, you cannot take your eyes off of her, and when she’s gone, her spirit remains heavily. Deadwyler dives into the material with the same urgency and fervor that she brought to her role in Till. She’s magnetic, hypnotic, and fully understands the demands of the role. Samuel L. Jackson received a Tony nomination for his performance on the recent Broadway revival, and of course he’s very good here. On screen, his role feels a little slight with the character reduced, at times, to a reactionary background presence. However, he has two standout scenes: one during a singing sequence and one when he is given the opportunity to explain the importance of the piano. I suppose it is a good thing to leave the audience wanting more, but I do wish we’d had the benefit of one or two more powerhouse Jackson monologues.

In addition to Deadwyler, Ray Fisher as Lymon made a huge impression on me. He’s often given the lighter, sweeter moments of the film, and he knows how to sell them with charm.

Some won’t adapt easily to the sequences in which the film trends into the spiritual realm, but those sequences worked for me, particularly a late-stage moment in which ghosts or memories of those faces carved into the piano enter into the present. It’s a leap that, I assume, was easier to take on stage, but it still works well here thanks to Washington’s deft staging. This production feels very important to the Washington family, and we are rewarded by their dedication and love poured into the film.

The Piano Lesson will be released in select theaters on November 8, 2024, before streaming exclusively on Netflix on November 22.