Excellent performances headline an entertaining and thought provoking period drama, with One Night in Miami delivering a timely message on the interplay between celebrity and advocacy during turbulent times.
Muhammad Ali. Malcolm X. Sam Cooke. Jim Brown. It is hard to assemble a more formidable group of black men that represented the fight for civil rights in 1960s America. One Night in Miami, the feature film debut of award-winning actress Regina King (If Beale Street Could Talk) places these four real life friends in a hotel room, where their plan to celebrate the world title win of 22-year-old Ali (then known as Cassius Clay) turns into a philosophical debate about power and responsibility in a changing America.
There are many parallels to be found with 2019’s The Two Popes. Also based on a play, One Night in Miami fictionalises a real-life meeting between titans of significant social standing. Screenwriter Kemp Powers (who also wrote the play) plays the proverbial fly-on-the-wall, letting his rich, creative imagination place word in mouth that while fictional, never-the-less feels authentic in speech and credence.
The films actors comply with phenomenal performances: Eli Goree hands down delivers the best portrayal of Muhammad Ali so far, portraying that wit and swagger and athleticism without resorting to impression level cliché; Aldis Hodge is all stern authority and direct demeanour as an in his prime Jim Brown who plans to carve his own path outside of the NFL; Leslie Odom Jr. delivers both in his portrayal of Cooke the man and the singer, leading his own pipes to music scenes that are quite powerful in execution; and then there is Kingsley Ben-Adir who portrays Malcolm X, perhaps the most important role as he is the nucleus that stirs debate and inflames passion, the civil rights leader trying to establish a legacy in his wake as he deals with the consequences of leaving the Nation of Islam.
Director Regina King captures it all wonderfully, while also adding extra flourishes to this story that Kemp’s play could not. Boxing scenes featuring Ali’s bouts against Henry Cooper and Sonny Liston are excellent in their production design and choreography. Same with scenes of Cooke performing at the infamous Copacabana night club in front of an all-white and ignorantly unimpressed audience. An opening scene featuring Brown in pleasant conversation with a neighbour (Beau Bridges) concludes with a repugnant moment of racism that is even more shocking in its ease and banality.
King successfully captures not only the tone and spirit of the mid ‘60s period setting, but the still relevant discussion of politics in entertainment and sport, especially whether celebrities should or should not wade into the murky waters of activism. A soul stirring conclusion to One Night in Miami answers that question with powerful clarity.
