culture
Theater
Movie review
It's going to be one of the stars of the upcoming Oscars.
What is the chance that someone in Israel will watch it?
"One Night in Miami," which is expected to receive a particularly high number of Oscar nominations this year, aired this weekend on Amazon Prime Video.
The film deals with an encounter between four of the most significant figures in the history of the black community in the United States, and does so in a digging and challenging way - but one that is definitely worth dedicating to.
Tags
Amazon Prime Video
Malcolm X.
Avner Shavit
Sunday, 17 January 2021, 00:47
Share on Facebook
Share on WhatsApp
Share on general
Share on general
Share on Twitter
Share on Email
0 comments
Disney's short film "Inner Works"
The Speaker of the House of Representatives quoted Ehud Manor in his speech ...
The "Ethos" series
With guns drawn: The night of the onslaught on Congress ...
Poetry Iscove fact
Meeting of the Prime Minister, Netanyahu and the singer Aviv Geffen 14.01.21
Thousands demonstrate near the Prime Minister's Residence in Jerusalem and Caesarea: ...
4 killed and 52 arrested in riots in Washington after ...
Big Brother, Rami Vered, Linor
The French series "Ten Percent"
The "Lupine" series, Omar C.
Tears of a woman
Trailer for the movie "One Night in Miami" (Amazon Prime)
(Photo: image processing, Shai Librovsky)
Tomorrow (Monday) will mark Martin Luther King Day in the United States.
As part of this, two new films dealing with black history were released this week - "Mlk / FBI", a well-made docu that came up here virtually, and will surely be screened at an Israeli festival later this year;
And "One Night in Miami," which aired around Amazon Prime Video around the world and is also available in Israel.
The film, the debut work as a director by actress Regina King, does not deal directly with Martin Luther King but with whoever was his Plugata bar - Malcolm X.
The screenplay was written by Camp Powers, based on his successful play, and belongs to a rather rare sub-genre: speculative works that take iconic characters, and invent conversations they have never had.
One such example was "Two of Us," a television film made in 2000 that tried to imagine what a conversation between Paul McCartney and John Lennon in 1976 would have looked like.
More on Walla!
NEWS
One Hundred Movies to Watch on Netflix: The Complete Guide
To the full article
The American press finished the praise.
From "One Night in Miami" (Photo: PR, Amazon)
Here, as the name of the film implies, this conversation takes place in a hotel room in Miami in 1964, and takes place between four black icons who face a turning point in their lives: Cassius Clay, a moment after surprisingly winning the World Boxing Championship and a moment before converting to Islam and changing his name to Muhammad Ali;
Malcolm X, just before he left the Nation of Islam for what he saw as his extremism, and a year before he was assassinated;
Singer Sam Cook, shortly before releasing his first political song, and one of his most memorable hits, "A Change Is Gonna Come";
And football player Jim Brown (the only one of those still alive), who will soon retire from sports to devote his time to developing a film career.
This is not an easy movie to get carried away with.
His pace is relaxed, his exposition is slow and only after more than half an hour, the real drama begins.
Even then, it is mainly based on three elements: speech, speech and speech.
He made his world debut "One Night in Miami" at the Venice Film Festival, where I watched it for the first time, and I had a hard time with it.
Only on further viewing, on the streaming service, could I appreciate the many interesting elements it has.
The first interesting point is the representation of the four heroes.
Cassius Clay / Muhammad Ali was one of the most powerful and arrogant athletes of all time;
Malcolm X established himself in the public consciousness as a charismatic and militant leader;
Jim Brown excelled in tough sports like football and then starred in various action movies;
And Sam Cook was a musical idol - but they are all portrayed here as nothing more than sensitive, fragile and vulnerable men, and if we had not known their historical baggage, we might even have thought they were just people from the locality.
Malcolm X is a much more controversial figure than Martin Luther King, but here he is portrayed sympathetically, empathetically and normatively, which is also true of the description of his Islamic faith.
In general, "One Night in Miami" stands as one of the most positive representations of Muslim Muslims we have seen so far in American culture.
When a political leader, a musician and two athletes enter a hotel room.
From "One Night in Miami" (Photo: PR, Amazon)
The film is also unusual due to the very fact that it throws into the cauldron characters from different fields: a thinker and a civic leader, a musician and two athletes who are much more than that.
Rarely do we get to see in cinema such a mixing of the intellectual, political, entertainment and sports worlds.
The dialogues touch on the interface between these areas.
For example, in what he sees as the most beautiful moment in the film, Malcolm X plays Sam Cook "Blowin 'in the Wind" and wonders in his offended ears how it is that a white musician is responsible for the protest song of the period, while a black artist like him focuses on sweeter and irrelevant music.
Dylan is mentioned by name only.
He is not seen in the film, which, unusually for the history of Hollywood, has almost no white characters.
The characters are black and the discourse is black: how should the black community have reacted to John F. Kennedy's death?
Does the fact that Malcolm X's skin tone is relatively light affect his attitudes and make them more aggressive out of a desire to prove himself to his black brother?
And in general, in the all-too-complex situation in 1960s America, what should a successful black man say and do?
Although the dialogues are all speculative, they sound credible and completely convincing.
Screenwriter Camp Powers was also a partner this year in writing the wonderful screenplay for "Soul" and stands out as one of the best writers currently out there in Hollywood.
Regina King, already in her first feature film as a director, does a good job, with a few cinematic touches that occasionally take the adaptation of the play out of the theatrical realms, and excels in casting and acting performances.
Talk, talk and talk.
From "One Night in Miami" (Photo: PR, Amazon)
The four main actors are experienced, but not very well known, and they are all excellent.
Particularly notable is the British Kingsley Ben-Adir, who earlier this year played Obama in the miniseries "The Comey Rule," and here plays Malcolm X, and Leslie Odom Jr., the salesman from "Hamilton," who here got into Sam Cook's skin.
Both best present the characters as a rainbow of emotions - from self-pride to passive-aggressive.
All this was enough for the American media to finish the praise for the film, and as usual - to exaggerate a bit, for reasons that should not be explained.
In addition, he is marked as one of the favorites for the Oscars - nominations in all the main categories (except for the lead actress, because there are no female characters here), are already a sure thing.
Despite all this, it is likely that in days gone by, the film would not have arrived in the country at all - as happened a few years ago for "Fences", another acclaimed and award-winning cinematic adaptation of a play about black history and culture.
Thanks to the age of streaming, it is placed hot in front of our oven, and yet it is possible to believe that not too many Israelis will watch it.
The question is not whether he will get Oscar nominations, but how many nominations he will get.
From "One Night in Miami" (Photo: PR, Amazon)
This is due to two reasons: the market share of Amazon's streaming service in Israel is relatively low, probably relative to Netflix, and they do not invest here in promoting their content, not even such a flagship project.
In addition, the Israeli public does not tend to take a special interest in the history of the black community in the United States.
So the American hit in question might get lost here, and it's a shame.
True, if there is a movie that deserves the nickname "Digger", then that is the case.
But with a little patience, a beautiful and non-trivial work is revealed here, which raises a host of relevant and universal questions: You don't have to be a black man in the United States in the 1960s to ask yourself what your role in society is and what the right thing to do is.
The answers, as Bob Dylan sings in the film, are carried in the wind, but one thing is for sure: whoever does not watch "One Night in Miami" will not cry when he does not recognize the nominees at the upcoming Oscar ceremony.
Share on Facebook
Share on WhatsApp
Share on general
Share on general
Share on Twitter
Share on Email
0 comments
