A drama that is surprisingly and thankfully not about piano lessons, The Piano Lesson keys into a family’s complicated and tragic history. Plus, there are ghosts, sort of. Sadly, the movie suffers from what so many other plays-turned-films suffer from: it still feels like a play.
Adapted from a play by August Wilson, The Piano Lesson is rich with dialogue and fiery performances—but I wish I had experienced it in a live stage setting while sitting in an intimate 50-seat theatre. Not all stage adaptations fail to make the jump to the big screen, but it’s misguided to think that what worked perfectly with theater actors will work as a movie.
As good as the acting is here, it feels exaggerated, with some of the performances edging on caricatures. The theatrics of it all don’t entirely work in movie form, making many of the characters hard to relate to even as they express their emotions for all to see.
In turn, as electrically charged as some of the scenes are, they rarely, fully click; which makes it so frustrating because you can see how close The Piano Lesson comes to elevating to the next level.
Listen. I’m a white dude, and none of the recent adaptations of Wilson’s plays—Fences, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, and now this one, have done much for me despite the considerable talent involved. I get that I am not the target audience here. And yet there is something that is lost from stage to celluloid at play here, which is a shame because you can tell The Piano Lesson could pack quite a punch in the right format.
At least this one has ghosts.
Review by Erik Samdahl unless otherwise indicated.