The Piano Lesson

Drama Music Horror English

A brother and sister's battle over a prized heirloom piano unleashes haunting truths about how the past is perceived — and who defines a family legacy.

Cast:	John David Washington, Danielle Deadwyler, Samuel L. Jackson, Ray Fisher, Michael Potts, Corey Hawkins, Gail Bean, Jerrika Hinton, Stephan James, Skylar Aleece Smith, Erykah Badu
Director:	Malcolm Washington
Editor:	Leslie Jones
Camera:	Mike Gioulakis

All Guild Reviews of The Piano Lesson

Image of scene from the film The Piano Lesson

Near-perfect Netflix drama finds John David Washington in incendiary form

Rohan Naahar | Independent Film Critic writing for Collider

Thu, December 19 2024

Starring John David Washington and directed by his brother, Malcolm, the new Netflix movie is a tightly-wound drama about sibling bonds, inherited trauma, and the horrors of the past.

It is easy, one would imagine, for a filmmaker to be overwhelmed by the words of the great August Wilson. Especially if they’ve never made a film before. Musical and marauding, the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright’s language is a vessel for the ambition and anger of his people. Netflix’s The Piano Lesson — the latest adaptation of Wilson’s celebrated Pittsburgh Cycle of plays — is directed by the debutante Malcolm Washington, whose father, the legendary Denzel Washington, has publicly devoted this stage of his career to shepherding Wilson’s work onto the screen.