Netflix always has a lot of firepower entering the awards season, and this year one of the streamer’s biggest guns is The Piano Lesson. Directed by Malcolm Washington, the son of Denzel Washington, it’s the latest August Wilson adaptation following Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and Fences.
Starring Samuel L. Jackson, John David Washington, Ray Fisher, Michael Potts, Erykah Badu, Skylar Aleece Smith, Jerrika Hinton, Gail Bean, Danielle Deadwyler, and Corey Hawkins, The Piano Lesson is set in 1930s Pittsburgh and follows a family as they make a critical decision about a prized family heirloom.
The film premiered at Telluride and has been receiving glowing reviews ever since. Could it be what finally wins Netflix the Best Picture Academy Award they’ve been seeking for years?
The Piano Lesson is in select theaters now and hits Netflix on November 22nd.
SYNOPSIS: A battle is brewing in the Charles Household. At the center stands a prized heirloom piano tearing two siblings apart. On one side, a brother (John David Washington) plans to build the family fortune by selling it. On the other, a sister (Danielle Deadwyler) will go to any lengths to hold onto the sole vestige of the family’s heritage. Their uncle (Samuel L. Jackson) tries to mediate, but even he can’t hold back the ghosts of the past.
