PROVOKR PICK: ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI
Regina King's Powerful Directorial Debut
On the night of February 25, 1964 Muhammed Ali, then still known as Cassius Clay, made history when he beat Sonny Liston to win the world heavyweight championship title. Regina King’s feature film directorial debut, written by Kemp Powers who adapted the screenplay from his stage play of the same name, is set in a fictionalized version of that very real night. It depicts a hypothetical meeting between Ali (Eli Goree), Black Panther Malcolm X (Kingsley Ben-Adir), singer Sam Cooke (Leslie Odom Jr.), and football player turned actor Jim Brown (Aldis Hodge). These four men, while lifelong friends, did not actually meet to discuss the state of civil rights and their respective roles in the civil rights movement, but in One Night in Miami that’s exactly what they do.
All four men deliver powerhouse performances in their roles, but special attention must be paid to Kingsley Ben-Adir, a British actor best known for his role on the Hulu series High Fidelity, and Leslie Odom Jr., best known for his role as Aaron Burr in Hamilton. As Malcolm X, Ben-Adir shows us a version of the Black Panther leader we’ve never seen before. The fire and the passion are still there, but this is a Malcolm X who senses the end is near. He’s already on the outs with the Nation of Islam, and he knows he’s being trailed by the government. Ben-Adir’s moving performance is sure to gain him some well deserved Oscar buzz. The same goes for Odom Jr.’s absolutely electric performance of Sam Cooke, who often acts as a foil for Malcolm X.
One Night in Miami had its world premiere on September 7, 2020 at the Venice Film Festival, making Regina King the first African-American woman to direct a film that played at the festival. It also screened at the Toronto International Film Festival, where it was runner-up for the People’s Choice Award (it lost to Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland).
Watch One Night in Miami on Amazon Prime starting January 15, 2021.
