Tanya’s Score: Good-and-a-half*
Rated: 14A
Starring: a bunch of future Oscar nominees (maybe even winners)
Plot: A fictionalized account of conversations occurring in a hotel room between Malcolm X (Kingsley Ben-Adir), Cassius Clay (Eli Goree), Sam Cooke (Leslie Odom Jr.) and Jim Brown (Aldis Hodge) on the night that Clay won boxing’s World Heavyweight Championship in 1964.
Tanya’s Verdict: This movie is loosely based on fact. These four men, each famous in their own right, were friends and did gather together in a Miami hotel room on a night in 1964. But the specifics regarding their interactions and discussions – are fictionalized.
This movie is also based on a play – written by the screenwriter. And while I notoriously dislike plays, even I must admit the writing is stellar.
An opening scene between actors Aldis Hodge and Beau Bridges had me riveted and set the tone for what would follow. The scenes of conversation between the men – the four of them together, two of them alone, then the other two alone, with mixing and matching – was the most play-like of the entire film: very talky, interesting at times but running the risk of going a bit too long and coming off as preachy here and there. Yet the film’s beginning, ending and the flashbacks in between are what took this play and made it a compelling film. And this is where my criticism ends.
This movie is an interesting one in the way that it blends fact and fiction; in the way that the conversations occurring in 1964 could just as easily be occurring in 2021; in the way that the characters relate to one another. The acting is to be commended – there will be a few Oscar nominations garnered here I’m sure.
And best of all – this remarkable movie is directed by a woman; a Woman Of Colour no less. Maybe this will be a historical film by perhaps marking the first time a WOC has won the Oscar for best director.
*Four score descriptions: Sh**; Okay; Good; Great