REVIEW: The Power of One Night In Miami…
The stage-to-screen adaptation is having its moment. As a fan of the theater who doesn’t have the wallet or the locale to appreciate it in person, recordings and adaptations like Regina King’s One Night in Miami tend to be the best chance I get to see these works in any way past reading the script or hoping that a local theater puts on a community production. I spoke yesterday about the importance of productions like this for several different reasons.
Coming off of last night’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, a film that bears more than a few similarities to this film, I’m thrilled to have had the chance to see a play I never knew existed until the end. Kemp Powers, a man who, unbeknownst me until after the movie, already blew me away two weeks ago with Soul. Powers adapted and expanded his play for the screen, but the stage roots are apparent with the long, dialogue-heavy scenes, which almost all play out in real-time.
I’m not going to focus too heavily on the historical significance of this film. At its core, it’s about four Black icons – Malcolm X, Jim Brown, Muhammad Ali, and Sam Cooke – all of whom have experienced different incarnations of the same systemic problems that plagued America in 1964. While the film might be a work of fiction based on factual even, its messages of unity through adversity, the importance of accountability, and the struggles that even the most well-known black Americans of their day experienced are just as crucial to a 2020 audience as they were in 1964. The reasons behind this have been covered as hominem by more qualified speakers on the subject than I.
Most of the film’s power, aside from King’s impressive direction in her big-screen debut and Power’s tight, masterful work on the script, comes from the performances. While the film features several characters, the four men at the center get the vast majority of screen time. All of them disappear into their roles, from Kingsley Ben-Adir’s enlightened but justifiably nervous Malcolm to Eli Goree’s young and passionate Ali. Leslie Odom does an uncanny job not only capture of Sam Cooke’s personality but his unforgettable singing voice, too. Aldis Hodge perfectly plays Jim Brown as a man who wants the right things but might sometimes take the wrong path to accomplish them. Goree also steals the show as a wet-behind-the-ears Ali on the precipice of his famous name change. All of the men are in different walks of life, different spiritual journeys, and other ends of the political spectrum. Still, their shared experience as high-profile black men in the 1960s makes them kindred spirits regardless of any differences in opinion they may have. That, at its heart, is what drives the movie.
All of the men have good and bad to them. However, what one realizes as they all open up is the sacrifices they made to get to where they are. All of them are shown at their professional highs and personal lows. We see the impact Jim Brown has on the white world while also seeing the limits this entails during a chilling scene featuring Beau Bridges as a racist caucasian friend. We see Ali at 22, still grappling with fame on top of religion, often going into his famous persona to rise above any problems facing him. Sam Cooke is viewed by some as a sellout, while we later learn the sacrifices he’s made and the work he’s done behind the scenes to guide an unforgiving world in his favor by manipulating a system that does not want him to succeed. At the film’s center is Malcolm X.
While all four characters get comparable screen time, there’s no doubt that Ben-Adir’s take on the late Civil Rights hero is the backbone of the movie. It’s Malcolm who brings them together for a night of laughs, fighting, introspection, and ultimate acceptance of the work they’re doing through uncertain times. Ben-Adir plays his role with subtle conviction, perfectly capturing his confidence, wisdom, and justified paranoia about a country that would stop at nothing to stop him, in particular, from reaching his mission. Had Chadwick Boseman not floored me in Ma Rainey, this may have been my favorite performance of the year. He has the gravitas to capture Malcolm’s signature charisma while maintaining the vulnerability needed to convey the fears that eat away at him. Add to that the professional burden of following in the footsteps of a definitive performance by Denzel Washington, and Ben-Adir deserves all the accolades that inevitably come his way after this film.
King’s direction offers the right balance between the stage’s feel required for such a project while also embracing the power of film during musical performances and boxing scenes. The fact that she’s worked on so many genres of tv show these last few years paints a picture of how she made such an impressive debut on the big screen. It’s not easy to capture such an ambitious project, but King passed with flying colors.
One Night in Miami is a unique film that’s hard to compare to many others. While it’s connections to other stage adaptations go far, King and Powers’ ability to create a believable 1964 while keeping the message modern and Fresh was no small task.
One Night in Miami might be a simple film on paper, but the complex issues it portrays in eye-opening ways makes it an instant classic that is also educational. Whether someone is a stage buff looking for more adaptations on the screen or a film buff looking for a unique film-watching experience, the film is sure to strike more than a few chords. Hopefully, it’s just the first of many King projects now that she’s shown herself to be a double-threat.
A+
