Malcolm Washington explores the repercussions of his traumatic past on the difficult present of his African American characters in his debut feature, an adaptation of a play by August Wilson.[Full review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Apr 30, 2025

Highly recommend this adaption of August Wilson’s play, highlighted by great performances from Washington, Fisher, and Deadwyler.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 22, 2025

Somehow, by broadening Wilson's classic play with this lavish production design, director Malcolm Washington suffocates and muddles the source material's poetic subtleties.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Mar 21, 2025

Danielle Deadwyler delivers another powerhouse performance as Berniece, a widowed single mother who refuses to let her brother Boy Willie sell their heirloom to buy the land their ancestors were enslaved upon.

| Mar 12, 2025

It lands as more of a showcase of assembling the many talents on board rather than an adaptation shining a new light on an already treasured work.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 20, 2025

As effective as the chills are, they seem trite to advance the story. And the story’s finality is a sugar-coated letdown

| Original Score: C | Feb 17, 2025

Not every attempt to create cinema from Wilson’s stirring play is effective, but Washington’s generous direction of his actors and the uniform care displayed toward Wilson’s words ensure the film’s artistic value.

| Feb 7, 2025

The acting lifts a slow paced script.

| Original Score: 6/10 | Feb 6, 2025

A beautiful story, mysterious and reverential to a family with the ghosts of the past … especially keen in the sons, daughters & grand siblings of slavery. On the acting side, John David Washington & Danielle Deadwyler both give award-level performances.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 3, 2025

In addition to the magical realism component, the film has some accomplished musical moments that are relevant. The staging is very theatrical, meaning that it maintains its rhythms and structure, and does not exaggerate with cinematographic resources...

| Original Score: 7/10 | Feb 1, 2025

While the pacing struggles a bit and it feels like we’re getting multiple narratives at once, the emotional and generational trauma haunt through effectively intimate directing.

| Jan 10, 2025

As cinema, The Piano Lesson suggests that Wilson鈥檚 fears were well founded -- but the stewardship of Hollywood鈥檚 Washington clan is the reason for its failure.

| Dec 31, 2024

A family conflict revealing how things host the past and pave the way to the future.

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Dec 26, 2024

Like I said, hokum. But it鈥檚 hokum that鈥檚 carried along by Wilson鈥檚 musical, muscular dialogue.

| Dec 23, 2024

There are always touching moments, carried by a strong ensemble that tells a familiar story in whispers and shouts that is at the same time extraordinary and yet representative of the fate of many others. [Full review in Spanish]

| Dec 13, 2024

John David Washington delivers a stunning performance as Boy Willie, a role that allows him to establish his own identity as an artist, separate from his famous family.

| Original Score: 8/10 | Dec 12, 2024

An exquisite film rendition of an American stage classic, The Piano Lesson promises to strike a powerful chord within the soul.

| Dec 11, 2024

Netflix鈥檚 adaptation faithfully renders this concern for the quotidian, albeit with a more stylish patina. Malcolm鈥檚 directorial choices diverge from his father鈥檚 old-school creative sensibilities; the pacing is faster, the music more dramatic.

| Dec 10, 2024

The 2024 version of The Piano Lesson gives a well-acted and dynamic cinematic retelling of August Wilson's Pulitzer Prize-winning play. This solidly made drama effectively conveys the story's themes of how family legacies can haunt or inspire people.

| Dec 6, 2024

The Piano Lesson鈥檚 themes are as bold as its performances.

| Dec 5, 2024