MILES AHEAD review by Rahul Vedantam – Don Cheadle portrays a musical icon

MILES AHEAD review by Rahul Vedantam – Don Cheadle portrays a musical icon

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Coming into the new music biopic MILES AHEAD, I immediately wanted to compare it to the 2014 film on James Brown called GET ON UP. Both concerned the rise and fall of men who not only defined the genre, but were kings of it. In each production the lead actor was the driving force for seeing the movie, as his performance determined everything about the project’s ability to hold water. My fault in this though was the small mistake of assuming they would be anything alike at all. If GET ON UP was funk (high energy, fun, and generally sticking to the musical structures established), then MILES AHEAD is definitely jazz… and not the easy and relaxing Dave Brubeck ‘Take Five’ jazz, rather more akin to Bitches Brew: it’s surreal, sometimes nonsensical, and in no way conforms to the regular tropes of film.

This project is Don Cheadle’s love letter to Davis. He not only stars and directs, but is the co-writer and co-producer of the film. We do not see him neatly wrapping up and lionizing the musical icon though. Actually, most of the plot of the film comes from a single 24-hour period when Davis was taking an indeterminately long hiatus from making any music. It’s an action packed night, starting when persistent reporter Dave Brill (Ewan McGregor) pesters Davis into giving him a story in exchange for cocaine. In the end, Brill becomes a sort of sidekick in Davis’ quest to regain a recording of his new music, stolen by the media executives who desire new moneymaking music out of the man. It’s an incredible story, too detailed to be true (and it’s not), but it’s clear that Cheadle wants us to take in more than the story, he wants us to watch the personality of this legend. He is incredibly determined, undeniably crazy, but in a genius sort of way, and never agrees to do anything for anyone but himself. The other half of the film comes from a more standard biopic-like depiction of Davis and his life, but even this centers itself around his relationship with Francis Taylor (Emayatzy Corinealdi) and the abuse he gave her despite loving the woman immensely.

All in all the film is all over the place. It doesn’t keep its narrative coherent. Scenes set up things that never follow through, and the jump cuts are ARCHER level. Yet despite all of this, Cheadle’s passion shines through and it’s clear that there is more to this film than a simple story. His portrayal as Davis is perfect. After hearing a voice recording of the music icon, the raspy voice is surprising accurate. For Miles Davis fans, this movie is worth seeing. For jazz fans looking to learn more about the king of the form, Wikipedia might be more informative. For film fans looking to see something interesting and a pure form of love, it might be worth checking out.

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