The Washington family, led by Denzel, pledged to bring all of August Wilson's plays to the big screen in a multiyear project — with The Piano Lesson, they continue that mission. It's a true family affair with Malcolm Washington directing his brother John David Washington, and their sister Katia producing right in step with dad Denzel.

Set in 1930s Pittsburgh, the story follows Boy Willie (John David Washington), as he descends upon his sister's house with his friend Lymon (Ray Fisher), intent on selling the family piano to rustle up the funds to buy his own farm. The piano in question is a family heirloom steeped in blood. Originally, the Sutter family traded members of Boy Willie's family, then enslaved on the Sutter plantation, for the piano. Eventually, the husband of the bartered wife and father of the daughter is called upon to carve the likeness of his missing kin into the piano (he ends up carving the faces of all their ancestors).

Boy Willie and his sister Berniece (Danielle Deadwyler) lose their father when he, Doaker (Samuel L. Jackson), and Wining Boy (Michael Potts) steal the piano from the Sutters. Because of this, Boy Willie believes they should turn their back on the past and use the money from the sale of the piano to envision a new future. But Berniece is intent on preserving their family history, even if she has let the ghosts of their ancestors lie dormant by refusing to play it.

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On its surface, The Piano Lesson is a family drama, an escalating argument between brother and sister. But it's also a tale of trauma and the courage that it takes to confront the horrors of the past and pernicious oppression.

Malcolm Washington makes his directorial debut with the film and it's a potent showcase for his visionary, promising skills as a filmmaker. There are segments of The Piano Lesson, particularly in the early expository sequences, that feel a bit stagey and indebted to the work's theatrical origins. But, by and large, Washington both expands and zooms in on the world in uniquely cinematic ways, whether it be his evocative flashbacks or his use of camera tricks to heighten the text's supernatural elements.

It helps that Washington's cast boasts preternatural abilities themselves. John David reprises the role he played in the 2022 Broadway revival (as do Fisher, Jackson, and Potts), bringing selfishness and self-possession to a man who yearns to exceed the oppression of his ancestors.

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Jackson has a long history with the play, having originated the role of Boy Willie in the very first staged production at Yale Repertory Theatre. Here, he takes a backseat to the bitter arguments of the younger characters, providing both comic relief and a guiding hand as Uncle Doaker.

Fisher plays against his superhero type as the shy, mild-mannered Lyman (and he is nearly unrecognizable in the role). He grants Lyman a simple gentleness that underscores the man's sweet soul. He's so winning in the role that it feels inevitable when Berniece is finally blindsided by her attraction to him. The romantic scene they share is sultry and erotic, despite the fact that they barely touch.

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It is Deadwyler (Till), however, who anchors the film with a performance of tremendous courage and heft. Her Berniece is a wounded creature, ready to snarl at any who would threaten her, her daughter, her memories of her late husband, or their precious family piano. She brims with yearning and pain, her soulful eyes barely containing the storminess of her soul.

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Berniece is the one to finally realize that the family can only banish the ghosts of those who haunt them by calling on those who came before. The film's climax is as potently terrifying as any horror movie, using low, canted angles, overpowering sound design, spooky lighting, and gasp-inducing effects (it is in this regard that the text is rendered truly cinematic, amplifying the ghost story at the heart of the action beyond mere suggestion).

Deadwyler is key to that, her performance emanating abject terror as she finally returns to the piano and calls to the ancestors, "C'mon and help me." The escalating refrain is an electrifying moment, Deadwyler's exposed nerve of a performance blending seamlessly with the score, editing, and ambience to hold the audience in a frightened thrall.

August Wilson is a poet of the American stage. In the hands of this remarkable cast and Washington's assured direction, Wilson's work finds its best conduit to the screen yet. The Piano Lesson is a meditation on trauma and the necessity of confronting it in order to free oneself from the ghosts of the past — a message so powerful that it's sure to haunt audiences long after the credits roll. Grade: A-