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One Night in Miami

**plays Patti LaBelle’s “If Only You Knew” in the background**

 

My eyes are sweating while I write this. “One Night in Miami” was a punch in the one ab I’ve acquired during quarantine (shouts to Cody Rigsby and Peloton for the support). Kemp Powers put his whole foot into this screenplay, and it’s the standout of the film. But also, the ensemble cast. The directing. The cinematography. The talent that oozed from the screen, from main cast to cameos. The production designers, costuming, and hairstyling teams coordinating across sets and bringing forth the personalities of the four main characters was 👌🏾👌🏾👌🏾. You can tell this film was a labor of love, and I appreciate the art.

 

Aight, so… I closed my eyes for a bit to see if, without looking at his face, I could feel Cassius Clay’s hyperbolic persona from Eli Goree’s performance. I was so nervous after seeing the promos for the film because they mainly centered on Goree’s Clay. I’d previously seen Ali portrayed on film as a caricature and wasn’t impressed 👀👀. We generally understand Ali’s histrionic hubris for what it was, a part of his persona as “The Greatest.” But Goree did something different with the icon and allowed some grace among Ali’s rhetorical effects. Outside of the ring, in the hotel room with Malcolm X (brilliantly portrayed by Kingsley Ben-Adir), we saw a simple moment between the two men where perceived confidence, or lack thereof, and minutiae mattered. A beautifully directed scene:

🎥Malcolm corrects Clay’s arms;

🎥 Clay not reciting anything after “Allahu Akbar;”

🎥Clay not closing his eyes during prayer symbolizing his lack of focus or reluctance to commit to his faith, perhaps.

The moment hit me, and I wasn’t expecting it.

Also, Goree nailed Clay’s accent. That man said “rassling” instead of “wrestling,” and “mooslim” instead of “Muslim.” Hilarious. 😆😆

 

Leslie Odom Jr. continues to surprise me, and moving forward I should be less shocked at that man’s talent. His Sam Cooke portrayal shouldn’t be lost in the sauce of the film’s incredible performances. He held his own. (The man has the range, bruh-bruh.) The way he sized down Malcolm’s hotel room after his failed night performing at the Fountainbleu almost took me OUT, but it was great exposition into the conversations that would later erupt between the two men.

The cameos!!! Ugh, shouts to the casting director, Kimberly Hardin! They touched my soul and were greatly appreciated by this television fan:

 

 

Kemp Powers’ pen:

I wanna learn the secret sauce. I wanna understand what it takes to be that good at your art. I need to do my 10,000 hours, and then some so I can catch up.

The screenplay was its own character in this film. It is the thing that made me sit up a little taller in my seat after we were introduced to Aldis Hodge as Jim Brown, the NFL icon.

The conversation between Brown and Mr. Carlton (played by Beau Bridges) left me utterly dumbfounded, bruh. The audience was sneak-dissed, honestly. These scenes felt like they were written to get the audience (too) comfortable, but there were hints in the narrative that led to that gob smack moment:

🙃 It was when the granddaughter didn’t invite the NFL icon, who she was so surprised to see before her, into the main house.

🙃 It was, after seeing this physically-able bodied football player, the granddaughter still yelling out for her elder to help her move a bureau knowing that Jim was still sitting there. She had just served him lemonade moments before.

🙃 🙃 Her insistence to even yell out to her grandfather while he was entertaining company was disrespectful too. To ask for assistance for such a mundane task in that moment felt off and puzzling.

🙃 But it was also Jim and Mr. Carlton’s conversation. I had a feeling after all those exchanged pleasantries that something strange was coming. This film is set in D A  S O U F in 1964, okay. 👀👀

This scene set the tone for every other bit of spoken and non-spoken mannerism throughout the journey with these four men, and how they interacted with: members of their family (Malcolm and Sam), people who worked for them (Malcolm, Sam, and Cassius), their fans (Cassius and Sam), and their perceived enemies (each one of them at some point with each other, but especially between Malcolm and Sam).

It’s the grind in the writing of each man’s personality, and highlighting the friendship within their arguments that was thoughtful. I don’t think I’ve seen a drama written like this before. Especially not one as thoughtful as this centered on four Black men, historical figures or otherwise, where the conversations translate to something familiar that isn’t a late-90s or early-2000s romantic comedy/drama. The debates about faith, money, race, history, perception, and honor in this film are timeless, and even the idea of its timelessness is meaningful, specific, and nerve-wracking.

 

Oh, but that conversation about colorism among high-profile Black leaders between Malcolm and Jim…

WHHHEEWWWWWWWW!!!! 😏😏 You talking about a moment I about fell TF over. Because I can recall the high school and Black Student Union debates about this shit, and how fruitful those topics were. Visceral, but necessary. Never thought I’d see those topics on screen, and not in a way that felt like I was eavesdropping on a real conversation between Jim Brown and Malcolm X. Aldis was in his baggeth 🧳💼🧳 during those scenes.

 

A deep breath 😌:

Before Sam and Cassius returned to the hotel room, Jim and Malcolm are positioned on opposite beds facing each other. Shouts to the cinematographer, Tami Reiker. That symmetrical establishing shot was beautiful, and set up the final act exquisitely. It was simple, still managed to carry in the fog of Jim and Malcolm’s colorism conversation, and positioned the forthcoming suspense between the quartet. Sam and Cassius enter with the latter seated beside Malcolm, two men on each bed facing each other.

The bubbling suspense.

The post-fight dust is starting to settle a bit. Malcolm breaks the tension with Sam and offers an apology along with a recollection of Sam’s Boston concert where he’d been watching along from the audience. Malcolm recalled the monumental night to the group, and explained to Sam that the reasons he preached so fervently towards him earlier was because he regarded him so highly. My impression of the writing in this scene was that Malcolm was at a spot where all his chickens had come home to roost, and Jim was not about to let him escape it after Malcolm had preached down to them all night.

The direction shifts to Cassius and Malcolm.

Malcolm is nervous. Cassius sits with confidence. A 180-degree shift from the prayer scene during the first act.

Malcolm begins to discuss his reluctance to remain a member of the Nation and his desire to form his own movement. Regina King‘s direction in capturing Cassius’ building anger and confusion, Jim’s helpful but stern assurances to Malcolm that all would be better after he lets it out, and Sam’s “ah-ha” facial expressions were like cooked food. And I was sopping it up, chyy… 🍛🍲🥘.

I felt like I could feel the emotions of each character in that hotel room. Like I could check the pulse of each character and know exactly what they were thinking. It was chemical. The anger Goree expressed made me forget I was watching actors. I honestly forgot that that wasn’t young Muhammad Ali going off on Malcolm X about his doubts and his faith. That that wasn’t Ali questioning the intentions of Malcolm X’s mentorship.

A N D  T H E N, for the tension to immediately break by someone outside the hotel room yelling Clay’s FULL GOVERNMENT NAME!

A slap.

Phenomenal writing. 👏🏾👏🏾

So, in conclusion shawties, Regina BEEN King, this is a Kemp Powers stan account, and I look forward to the next production. And shouts to Terence (the legend) Blanchard for the music.