LONDON: To say “The Piano Lesson” is a family affair would be something of an understatement. This cinematic adaptation of August Wilson’s 1987 play follows a pair of siblings, locked in disagreement about a family heirloom — an engraved piano, ‘liberated’ from the Charles family’s ancestral enslavers and now residing in 1936’s Pittsburgh. But there’s a neat parallel, too, about the film’s journey to the big screen (and Netflix subscribers shortly thereafter), produced as it is by Denzel Washington, directed by son Malcom, co-produced by daughter Katia, and starring son John David Washington as Boy Willie.

Washington (John David, that is) reprises his role from the 2022 stage production, and is joined by fellow castmates Samuel L Jackson (Doaker), Ray Fisher (Lymon) and Michael Potts (Wining Boy).

Boy Willie wants to sell the piano and buy a plot of land following the untimely death of his employer, James Sutter. His sister Bearniece (Danielle Deadwyler), on the other hand, wants to keep it in the family as testament to the suffering endured by their ancestors. What’s more, Bearniece suspects Boy Willie had something to do with Sutter’s death, as she begins seeing the latter’s ghoulish specter around the house. Uncles Doaker and Wining Boy want peace and quiet, while Willie’s friend Lymon simply wants to escape his old life and start over.

It's a complicated, convoluted setup, and Washington (Malcolm, this time) skillfully takes his time establishing who is who, utilizing the kind of character-led exposition better suited for a stage play, in fact. The cast (as you’d expect, given their familiarity with the roles) all turn in powerhouse performances. A rendition of “O’ Berta” is a chilling standout, as is the simmering tension between widowed Bearniece and the affable Lymon.

The only place “The Piano Lesson” falls down is when it leaves the intense trappings of the family house, where it loses a little momentum as it ventures beyond the limits of the stage production. As good as it is, there’s a question of whether this needed remaking as a movie at all — but regardless, “The Piano Lesson” makes for a riveting, unsettling study on familial trauma and legacy.

DUBAI: Mexican actress Melissa Barrera opened up about how she felt after facing backlash in Hollywood over her comments on the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Speaking to The Independent, Barrera said “it was the darkest and hardest year of my life, and I had to reevaluate everything. There were times when I felt like my life was over.”

The 34-year-old actress was fired from “Scream VII” after she took to social media to call for a ceasefire and criticised Israel’s response to the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas. As of Nov. 27, 2024, the death toll in Gaza has reached 44,200, according to Gaza’s health ministry.

 

 

 

 

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“Gaza is currently being treated like a concentration camp,” she wrote in an Instagram story in October 2023. “This is genocide and ethnic cleansing.” In another post, she complained about the supposed bias in Western media reporting, saying: “Western media only shows the other side … why they do that, I will let you deduce for yourself. We don’t need more hate. No Islamophobia. No antisemitism.”

Spyglass, the studio behind the latest Scream films, dropped Barrera from the franchise in response.  “We have zero tolerance for antisemitism or the incitement of hate in any form, including false references to genocide, ethnic cleansing, Holocaust distortion or anything that flagrantly crosses the line into hate speech,” the company said in a statement.

Barrera says she then faced almost a year of difficulties in Hollywood.

“It was quiet for like 10 months,” Barrera told The Independent about her acting jobs. “I was still getting offers for small things here and there – I’m not going to lie and say there was nothing – but (the message) was, ‘Oh, she probably doesn’t have work, she’ll say yes to anything.'”

Instead, the actress spent much of 2024 promoting the films she made before the incident, including horror comedy “Abigail” and musical “Your Monster.”

 

 

 

 

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The latter sees Barrera play a soft-spoken actress who finds love again when she meets a terrifying but charming monster that lives in her closet.

The “Your Monster” script came across Barrera’s desk soon after filming “Scream VI” in 2022.

“I kept getting horror scripts, and I wasn’t getting a lot of the really exciting parts I was auditioning for,” she told the newspaper of why she jumped at the role. “I would get (roles) that I wasn’t excited about, and I’ve never been a person that just wants to work for work’s sake. I give so much of myself to acting that if a part of me feels like it’s not worth it, I’m (going to) be miserable.”