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

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

| Dec 10, 2024

And the movie's turn toward supernatural horror feels like an abrupt shift in tone, a too literal illustration of the film's haunting themes.

| Original Score: C+ | Dec 3, 2024

But so much of the film is like inside baseball for people who already have seen this story in its many other forms. Neither the performances nor August Wilson are done justice here.

| Dec 2, 2024

A first-rate adaptation.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Nov 27, 2024

There’s a lot going on in The Piano Lesson, and it’s occasionally challenging to keep track of the story’s multiple strands. But by keeping Deadwyler’s face in sight, you can never lose your way.

| Nov 25, 2024

August Wilson's 1987 play is opened up in ways that that work—and some that don't—in this beautifully acted film adaptation.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Nov 25, 2024

This drama works best when it’s not taking its cues directly from its source material. It may not be always totally compelling, but Deadwyler elevates every scene she’s in.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 22, 2024

Yes, The Piano Lesson hits a few bum notes. Its melody nonetheless remains intact.

| Nov 21, 2024

“The Piano Lesson” is the weakest of the Denzel Washington-produced Pittsburgh Cycle. But when you’re working with Wilson’s material, there’s an inherent richness, and the questions this film raises have never been more potent.

| Nov 21, 2024

As with so many plays adapted for screen, it’s the enclosure that really holds you.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 21, 2024

In The Piano Lesson, August Wilson's ghosts are as tangible as they’ve ever been, and the film barely containing them is as weathered and tense as any family in need of a séance.

| Original Score: B | Nov 21, 2024

Washington is a mesmerizing performer and his Boy Willie is electric, charismatic, and dangerous. Deadwyler has a quieter role, especially in the first half of the film, but gets a chance to show Berniece's fiery determination.

| Original Score: B+ | Nov 19, 2024

An agonized drama about the burden of yesteryear and the conflicting ways to embrace and transcend it—one that’s rich in character, conflict, detail, desire, and history.

| Nov 15, 2024

Over and over, Deadwyler is able to seem both open to people and yet full of so much rage that she could explode at any moment.

| Nov 13, 2024

Everyone here is really good -- it's challenging material -- but I don't feel like it ever truly expands upon the fact that this is a play on film.

| Nov 13, 2024

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

| Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 11, 2024

The project increasingly looks as if it is pickling the plays in aspic rather than finding them appropriate cinematic translations.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 11, 2024

The Piano Lesson lurches in tone from slavery-era memory drama to supernatural horror to fraught family face-offs, never fusing to create an organic piano concerto.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 9, 2024