Over the last few years, the work of playwright August Wilson has been the source of some pretty fantastic films. 2016’s Fences became the third film directed by Denzel Washington, which earned a Best Picture nomination and won Viola Davis a much-deserved Best Supporting Actress award. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom from 2020 won two Oscars, and gave Chadwick Boseman’s final performance a posthumous nomination. The latest in this string of Washington-produced Wilson adaptations turns this project into a family affair, as Denzel’s son, Malcolm Washington, makes his feature debut with The Piano Lesson, which also stars Malcolm’s brother, John David Washington. While The Piano Lesson might be the lesser of these three Wilson adaptations, it’s still a strong presentation of the writer’s work in a story that is nonetheless captivating.

What Is ‘The Piano Lesson’ About?

The Piano Lesson finds Boy Willie Charles (John David Washington) coming with his friend Lymon (Ray Fisher) to visit Willie’s sister Berniece (Danielle Deadwyler) and his uncle Doaker (Samuel L. Jackson) in 1936 Philadelphia. Willie and Lymon have come down with a truck full of watermelons that they plan to sell. Willie, a sharecropper, wants to buy Sutter’s land, where his ancestors worked as slaves. Boy Willie already has one part of the money he needs, while selling the watermelons will get him the second part. The third part of the money he needs, however, he wants to get from selling the family heirloom: the family piano in Berniece’s possession that is decorated with carvings of their enslaved ancestors.

For Boy Willie, the piano represents a way to get out of his family’s struggles and reclaim the land that his ancestors worked so hard on for years that he can finally own and move beyond this heartbreaking past. For Berniece, it’s a reminder of their family’s legacy that she refuses to get rid of, despite Boy Willie’s constant harping and complaining. As Boy Willie attempts to sell this piano and get his land, it soon becomes clear that the ghosts of the past are still around, ready to remind this family of the legacy of the piano.

Malcolm Washington Takes ‘The Piano Lesson’ Off the Stage Effectively
Image via Netflix

With his first feature, Malcolm Washington does an admirable job of adapting this stage play to the screen, expanding this story beautifully for this new medium. The Piano Lesson mostly takes place in Doaker and Berniece’s house, but Washington finds ways to not make this story feel so enclosed. We get to see Boy Willie in the fields that he wants to own so badly, Willie and Lymon letting loose at a nightclub, and the film’s frequent use of ghosts to haunt these characters has an unnerving impact that likely couldn’t be recreated quite as effectively on the stage. While Ma Rainey was mostly stuck in one location, Malcolm Washington almost seems to take cues from Denzel’s adaptation of Fences, finding simple ways to flesh out this world beyond what could be shown on the stage. It’s not a major evolution of this story, but it does make it feel grander because of how it handles the source material.

That being said, The Piano Lesson still feels thinner and more made for the stage than those other previous adaptations. Co-written by Washington and Virgil Williams (co-writer of Mudbound and writer of Denzel’s fourth film as director, A Journal for Jordan), the story still has a staginess that it can’t shake. The continued focus of fights between Boy Willie and Berniece about the piano bears the limitation of a story made for one location and one focus. Still, especially in that final third, Williams and Washington’s screenplay manages to turn that into a feature and not a bug, making the small home claustrophobic and terrifying in its own way. By having all these characters in close proximity and under duress, they’re able to capture a nightmarish scenario in a way that only a film could present.

Danielle Deadwyler and the Rest of the Cast Elevates Wilson’s Play
Image via Netflix

Much of The Piano Lesson’s cast comes from the 2022 Broadway production, which won the Tony for Outstanding Revival of a Play. While John David Washington is quite good here, his performance also does feel like it would be more suitable on the stage, especially whenever he goes on a tear about trying to sell the piano, wherein he often takes on a proud, grandstanding tone. However, Jackson, Fisher, and Michael Potts, who plays Wining Boy Charles, manage to modulate their performances for the screen effectively. Especially in the third act, Fisher makes his quiet character stand out as he finally speaks up about his own wants and desires.

But it’s Deadwyler who truly stuns in The Piano Lesson, and is the only major actor in the film who didn’t play the part on the stage. Deadwyler knows how to use her intensity that is borne out of love to command a scene, as we saw time and time again in her vastly underrated performance in 2022’s Till. While Washington’s Boy Willie tries to show dominance in a room, attempting to show his power and often failing to do so, Deadwyler’s Berniece can demand this sort of power simply with the tone of her voice or a glare that could cut like a knife. Again, in the third act, when The Piano Lesson begins to get into some darker territory, Deadwyler knows how to beautifully make this shift into a more horror-leaning story. With performances like this, Deadwyler continually shows us with each new role that she’s a powerful acting presence that deserves more attention.

Of the recent Wilson adaptations, The Piano Lesson is the film that struggles the most to find its bearings off the stage. Yet Malcolm Washington shows himself to be a capable director, expanding this story in the ways he can while staying true to the source material. This cast also knows how to elevate Wilson’s words beautifully, whether it’s sticking close to a more stagelike performance or bringing new life to this story, as Deadwyler does. The Piano Lesson has its troubles in the adaptation process, yet Washington’s film is a strong installment in the increasingly impressive lineup of Wilson adaptations.