One Night in Miami

[poisonivy2]

Posted: 1/21/21 at 11:51pm

Did anyone watch this? Leslie Odom Jr. plays Sam Cooke. It's a great movie overall. I really enjoyed all the actors, especially Eli Goree as Cassius Clay/Muhammad Ali. 

Really recommend this. It's on Amazon Prime. 

Here's Leslie Odom Jr's A Change is Gonna Come:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMDFObcqU5U

[GiantsInTheSky2]

Posted: 1/22/21 at 12:29am

Really loved the film. Phenomenal performances by all. Wish I had known about the play prior to this adaptation!

[poisonivy2]

Posted: 1/22/21 at 11:43am

I also liked the apperances by Joaquina Kukalongo as Malcolm X's wife. She had been wonderful in Slave Play. 

[NameGreg]

Posted: 1/22/21 at 11:55am

I saw this the other day and found it terrific. All four actors were truly wonderful, though Leslie Odom was my favorite. I think this will do well in the coming awards season.

Wouldn’t be surprised if Odom wins for either his performance or the beautiful song “Speak Now” that he helped write. It would be pretty interesting if he could win an Oscar before Lin Manuel does.

[JBroadway]

Posted: 1/22/21 at 12:38pm

I was lucky enough to see the play in London, and I loved it. The movie makes a ton of changes, mostly in the form of brand new material. The original play is just 90 minutes in the single hotel room, whereas the movie adds a ton of scenes that take place elsewhere, and also takes some of the original scenes and changes the setting. 

I had some issues with the movie, but mostly I really liked it. Glad to see so many stage plays getting mainstream attention through film adaptations this year! 

[poisonivy2]

Posted: 1/22/21 at 5:32pm

I felt like I learned more about Malcolm X in this movie than Spike Lee's considerably more ambitious biopic. This film really made Malcom X seem like a real person.

[GiantsInTheSky2]

Posted: 1/22/21 at 6:17pm

JBroadway said: "I was lucky enough to see the play in London, and I loved it. The movie makes a ton of changes, mostly in the form of brand new material. The original play is just 90 minutes in the single hotel room, whereas the movie adds a ton of scenes that take place elsewhere, and also takes some of the original scenes and changes the setting.

I had some issues with the movie, but mostly I really liked it. Glad to see so many stage plays getting mainstream attention through film adaptations this year!"

What issues did you have with it, if you don’t mind my asking? Would love to hear some thoughts on it. 

[poisonivy2]

Posted: 1/22/21 at 10:24pm

The movie wasn;t perfect. Although it attempted to ":open up" the play a bit it was still obviously based on a stage play, with some of the inherent talkiness and static feel of a stage play. 

I also thought that as great of a singer as Odom Jr. is, his voice doesn't have the melancholy soul of Sam Cooke. If you listen to Sam Cooke's "A Change is Gonna Come" his voice really breaks your heart in a way Odom doesn't.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPr3yvkHYsE

But these are small quibbles in what is otherwise a wonderful film.

[bear88]

Posted: 1/23/21 at 4:13am

I liked it, even though the structure of the film grew a bit predictable, as some of the conversations or confrontations felt like box-checking. It was well acted, and Leslie Odom Jr. surprised me - as I've never thought of him as a great actor. I thought this was a more impressive performance by him than the filmed production of Hamilton. (He's not bad in the latter, but not as good as I remembered him from seeing him in the musical.) I thought he had one of the better roles and made the most of it. I'm not going to fault him for not being Sam Cooke; he was plenty good enough.

I guess Odom Jr. is an Oscar favorite for supporting actor, which feels like category fraud. But Brad Pitt won last year in category fraud too.

JBroadway, I'm also curious about your problems with the film.

[blaxx]

Posted: 1/23/21 at 11:08pm

I found the writing and the performances terrific.

My issue was that there was so little about it that justified a cinematic adaptation, it was obvious that it was originally thought for the stage and didn't completely work as a film. The material is still relevant and riveting

[poisonivy2]

Posted: 1/24/21 at 12:04am

blaxx said: "I found the writing and the performances terrific.

My issue was that there was so little about it that justified a cinematic adaptation, it was obvious that it was originally thought for the stage and didn't completely work as a film. The material is still relevant and riveting"

Well I had never seen One Night in Miami onstage and so I was glad for the film. 

If anything else Sam Cooke's songs have become newly popular on YT and that's always a good thing. Sam Cooke was an incredible singer.

 

[bear88]

Posted: 1/24/21 at 4:04am

Like Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, the film is very clearly an adaptation of a stage play that only makes a passing effort to be more than that. It doesn't "open up" and take advantage of the options of a movie. But I had never seen either play and didn't really mind. Even if more bells and whistles were added, the film would rise or fall based on the words and performances.  

[poisonivy2]

Posted: 1/24/21 at 2:06pm

I think Kingsley Ben-Adir has a good shot at an Academy Award for his portrayal of Malcolm X and Leslie Odom Jr. a good shot at winning for Sam Cooke.