So good! This movie "chronicles" a fictitious meeting between football star Jim Brown, boxer Cassius Clay (before he changed his name to Muhammed Ali), singer Sam Cooke, and civil rights activist Malcolm X. The four icons talk about civil rights and cultural upheaval on the night Clay defeated Sonny Liston––February 25, 1964. Many true facts and occurrences are woven into this script by Kemp Powers, based on his 2013 play of the same name.
The cast is terrific, with Kingsley Ben-Adir as Malcolm X (1925-1965), Eli Goree as Clay (1942-2016), Aldis Hodge as Brown (born 1936), and Leslie Odom Jr. as Cooke (1931-1964) (Cooke was shot to death months after the match and Malcolm was assassinated the following year). Cooke's wife Barbara is played by Odom's actual wife Nicolette Robinson, and Beau Bridges' (in a cameo) character's daughter is played by his daughter Emily Bridges.
Actress Regina King makes her much-heralded directorial debut. This is the first movie directed by a Black woman to be selected by the Venice Film Festival and I predict many more accolades. See below. The creamy cinematography is thanks to director of photography Tami Reiker.
Rotten Tomatoes' critics, averaging 98%, are in agreement with Jack and me. Its audiences, at 83, are a little farther behind. We saw it three weeks ago. If you have a subscription to Amazon Prime you should watch this one, which is on my growing list of 2021 nominees and winners.
Actress Regina King makes her much-heralded directorial debut. This is the first movie directed by a Black woman to be selected by the Venice Film Festival and I predict many more accolades. See below. The creamy cinematography is thanks to director of photography Tami Reiker.
The score by Terence Blanchard and others is available on Apple Music. There's a playlist on Spotify and here's a list of songs. I almost forgot to mention Odom's singing as Cooke. We expected as much but he was surprised they didn't want him to lip-sync. He's so good! His original song is over the credits and has a couple of nominations so far.
Hodge was last blogged for Straight Outta Compton, Odom for Hamilton, and Blanchard for Harriet. Ben-Adir, who is British, played the boyfriend in the High Fidelity series. Goree was in Race as track star Dave Albritton, and Reiker shot High Art (1998), Pieces of April (2003), and Beyond the Lights, among others.
Rotten Tomatoes' critics, averaging 98%, are in agreement with Jack and me. Its audiences, at 83, are a little farther behind. We saw it three weeks ago. If you have a subscription to Amazon Prime you should watch this one, which is on my growing list of 2021 nominees and winners.
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