The Piano Lesson review – handsome if stagey August Wilson adaptation

The third Denzel Washington-produced movie adaptation of an August Wilson play (after 2016’s Fences and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom in 2020), The Piano Lesson shares strengths and weaknesses with its predecessors. The vivid, verbose dialogue of Wilson’s 1987 play may be an acquired taste, but it’s writing that consistently lays the foundations for rich and full-blooded performances.

In The Piano Lesson, which is set in 1930s Pittsburgh and addresses a family’s history and legacy through the contested fate of an heirloom piano, the standout performance comes from an extraordinary Danielle Deadwyler. She plays Berniece, a widowed young mother who stands firm against her brother, Boy Willie (a showy but hollow turn from John David Washington), and his plan to sell the piano. Samuel L Jackson is also excellent as Doaker, the peacemaker between the warring siblings, in an uncharacteristically low-key performance.

It’s a handsome production, and an impressive debut from first-time director Malcolm Washington, Denzel’s son. But like the previous two pictures, it’s stagey and mannered – a film that never quite sheds its theatrical roots.

• In cinemas now; on Netflix from 22 November