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This review was originally published on September 13, 2024 out of the Toronto International Film Festival.
We are recirculating it now timed toThe Piano Lessons theatrical release.
Hes enhanced certain characters and downplayed others.
But the son has chosen a slightly less reverential path.
When it succeeds, its impressive.
To him, its an object that has caused pain and can be exploited to move forward.
For her, its a transmitter to those who came before them.
John David Washingtons frenetic performance made perfect sense on the stage, where projection comes with the territory.
The movie effectively becomes her story.
But thats the stage, and the magic of live presence.
For his film, Washington spreads the metaphor across a wider timeline.
Other flashbacks arent quite as successful.
It becomes less about the man telling the story and more about the story itself.
Thats the central challenge of this film.
(Wilson was, after all, also a poet.)
That, of course, would have been sacrilege.
But sometimes movies need a little sacrilege to achieve their full potential.
