The Piano Lesson is a family drama set in a working-class Pittsburg home in the 1930s, and this film was recently released on Netflix after it officially premiered at the Telluride Film Festival in August this year. The keyword for this film is 'family' not only in its story and themes but also in its production.
A-list actor Denzel Washington (The Little Things, 2021) is a co-producer on this film, and his daughter Katia Washington is an executive producer. Both of Denzel's sons are big parts of this film too, with Malcolm Washington as director and co-screenwriter and John David Washington (Tenet, 2020) acting in one of the leading roles. So The Piano Lesson is very much a family affair in more ways than one.
The peaceful lives of Berniece and her uncle Doaker are shaken up when Berniece's brother, Willie, and Willie's friend Lymon, show up unannounced in their home with some plans to make money. These plans include taking an old, upright, wooden piano from under Berniece's watchful eye and selling it for money to buy farmland. Except Berniece will never agree to let go of the family piano. The arguments between brother and sister uncover longstanding emotional scars from their violent past working under white plantation owners in Mississippi in the first decades of the 20th century.
Instead of being wholly about the horrors of slavery and racism in the American South, The Piano Lesson is a pensive retrospective view of that time, showing viewers how those scars endure through the years even after this fictional family finds peace and a free labor economy in Pittsburg. Is it best to destroy or cast aside the memories of an abusive past? Or should people hold onto them forever as part of their own family history? These are some of the questions the characters address, making The Piano Lesson an incredibly thoughtful, gracious portrait of Black America.
This film is adapted from a play of the same name by August Wilson, and it won the Pulitzer Prize for drama in 1990 (the year it was first produced). Sometimes a play is transported to the silver screen without much creativity, not using the trappings or possibilities in filmmaking to inject the transported play with more visual breadth. This limited creativity can create a sense of monotony or claustrophobia in some films like Carnage (2011) or Fences (2016).
The Piano Lesson doesn't have this issue, because it shows viewers things that cannot be included on a stage. It uses flashbacks and dreams to present memories, feelings of mourning, and present fears when ghosts from the past start appearing. This use of editing helps The Piano Lesson feel more powerful, more visceral, and more personal. It's similar to the more recent film adaptation of The Boys in the Band (2020) which expands from the original film adaptation in 1970.
The slightly wobbly, hand-held camera movements give this film an intimate feeling like you're moving through the kitchen and living room as a member of the family among the emotional chaos. And the addition of ghosts gives The Piano Lesson both a spiritual and supernatural layer to its characters' lives (something that helps this film stand out from other period domestic dramas).
Two monologues in the first half of this film feel rushed, and various line deliveries feel this way too. Thankfully, watching this at home allowed me to rewind and use subtitles when needed. But these were honestly the only issues I had with this one. Not only is this film an honest look at Black American identity in the 20th century, it's a beacon for every family's heritage (both good and bad). That heritage is important, because it's inevitably part of your life today.
