Uploaded December 2024 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Post-screening conversation with actor Danielle Deadwyler and journalist Antonia Blyth.
The intensity of familial bonds are on full display—both in front of and behind the camera—in Malcolm Washington’s adaptation of August Wilson’s searing play. Produced by his father Denzel, and starring his brother John David with the critical participation of his sister Olivia and mother Pauletta, Washington’s film uses the strength of his family tree to anchor a multigenerational story of memory, trauma, and progress. Featuring standout performances from Danielle Deadwyler, Ray Fisher, and Samuel L. Jackson, this tale of the battle over a prized heirloom piano and the ghosts it unleashes joins Fences and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom among the compelling August Wilson visions brought to cinematic light by the Washingtons.
The Piano Lesson. 2024. USA. Directed by Malcolm Washington. With Samuel L. Jackson, John David Washington, Danielle Deadwyler. DCP courtesy Netflix. 125 min.
Subscribe to the Hammer Museum's channel:
youtube.com/channel/UCjcgouIXgFyxJgAPbVE6dlg?sub_confirmation=1
Post-screening conversation with actor Danielle Deadwyler and journalist Antonia Blyth.
The intensity of familial bonds are on full display—both in front of and behind the camera—in Malcolm Washington’s adaptation of August Wilson’s searing play. Produced by his father Denzel, and starring his brother John David with the critical participation of his sister Olivia and mother Pauletta, Washington’s film uses the strength of his family tree to anchor a multigenerational story of memory, trauma, and progress. Featuring standout performances from Danielle Deadwyler, Ray Fisher, and Samuel L. Jackson, this tale of the battle over a prized heirloom piano and the ghosts it unleashes joins Fences and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom among the compelling August Wilson visions brought to cinematic light by the Washingtons.
The Piano Lesson. 2024. USA. Directed by Malcolm Washington. With Samuel L. Jackson, John David Washington, Danielle Deadwyler. DCP courtesy Netflix. 125 min.
Subscribe to the Hammer Museum's channel:
youtube.com/channel/UCjcgouIXgFyxJgAPbVE6dlg?sub_confirmation=1
