One Night In Miami… Movie Review: Dialogue Takes Center Stage
One Night in Miami… is a fictional movie about a night where Malcolm X, Sam Cooke, Muhammad Ali, and Jim Brown meet up in a hotel room and discuss a wide range of deep topics. Regina King is the director and Kemp Powers wrote the screenplay, and both have been ecstatically praised for their work on this title. I thought this movie was very poignant and thought-provoking. The first and last few sequences of the film feel cinematic and a bit hyperrealistic, while the majority of the movie takes place in a hotel room with the men exchanging dialogue. This movie definitely feels like an adaptation of a stage play with the way the script is written and spoken. The movie does not rely heavily on background or mood music, because the men’s voices take center stage. There are few overly cinematic or sweeping shots of scenery because the focus is on the men’s body language and facial expressions. Overall, the movie was really mesmerizing to watch because the performances are incredibly dynamic and the screenplay just makes you hold your breath and listen.
At the start of the film, the audience gets introduced one by one to the four legends that are the focus of this story. Each scene captures both the success that comes with being a famous person and the struggle that comes with being a famous Black person. By the time the four of them gather in the hotel room and the deeper conversations start, you are definitely invested in each character and wondering how they will interact. Regina King pays homage to the predominant hotel room setting while still making sure that every scene is interesting. You will notice how a moment at the kitchen table between Malcolm X and Jim Brown can feel entirely different from a moment where Muhammad Ali and Jim Brown are sitting across from each other on the hotel beds. And every scene composition seems to be expertly crafted to show subtle signs of power or weakness from each man in the room. I thought the flow of the story from beginning to middle to end was really well crafted. The more you get to understand each individual, the more you realize how powerful their activism is by virtue of their fame and actions.
Kingsley Ben-Adir, Eli Goree, Aldis Hodge, and Leslie Odom Jr. were all incredibly fantastic in their roles! I was super excited to hear Leslie Odom Jr. singing as Sam Cooke and even more excited to see his IRL wife, Nicolette Robinson play his on-screen wife. To be honest, I did not know who Sam Cooke was before this movie, so I am both ashamed of the fact that I am not cultured but also grateful that I have now been introduced to this artist. I was also especially struck by Kingsley Ben-Adir’s performance as Malcolm X, because it was so gut-wrenching and powerful. Even though all of the men shone brightly, I think Ben-Adir kind of stole the show with his displays of vulnerability. I felt like the actors were being intentionally theatrical with their acting, emphasizing words and saying their lines with a bit of exaggerated drama. I took it as a way the movie kept the most powerful aspects of the stage play script intact by keeping each monologue deep with feeling and meaning.
In conclusion…
Though there are many wow factors to this movie, I think the biggest one for me was the ending. I felt shaken to the core hearing Leslie Odom Jr.’s powerful rendition of Sam Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come.” I love how the ending showed how each man was affected and inspired by the conversation they had in Miami and went on to accomplish things all of the other men were sure to be proud of. Definitely a movie worth watching and remembering!