One Night in Miami (2020)

[grawlix]

 

Regina King directs.  Available on Amazon Prime.

[Growsonwalls]

I absolutely loved this film. I thought this film actually made Malcolm X seem realer and more human than Spike Lee's considerably more ambitious biopic. Kingsley Ben-Adir's acting is wonderful -- I love how much Malcolm X is a fan of Cassius Clay/Muhammad Ali. He;s as excited as any groupie. I also loved Leslie Odom Jr as Sam Cooke. 

 

[Browncoat]

The casting for this was great!  I feel like the actors really paid attention to their real-life counterparts and nailed it.

I liked the movie as a whole -- there was no question it was based on a play (though I did not know that before I saw the movie).  It's a very thought-provoking piece.  What did these four gentlemen really talk about on that night?

[Growsonwalls]

3 hours ago, Browncoat said:

The casting for this was great!  I feel like the actors really paid attention to their real-life counterparts and nailed it.

I liked the movie as a whole -- there was no question it was based on a play (though I did not know that before I saw the movie).  It's a very thought-provoking piece.  What did these four gentlemen really talk about on that night?

Yeah all the actors really nailed the essence of their historic vis a vis. As for Malcolm X I checked -- he was an avid photographer and always with his beloved camera. 

Here is a picture of him with Ali:

[Growsonwalls]

Here is an article about the friendship between Ali and Malcolm X that eventually soured as Malcolm X fell out of favor with the Nation of Islam:

https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2016/02/25/467247668/muhammad-ali-and-malcolm-x-a-broken-friendship-an-enduring-legacy

[AgentRXS]

I’m a huge Sam Cooke fan, and I think Leslie did a wonderful job emulating him, especially since he has so little material to draw from. 
It is absolutely criminal that the only live performance of “A Change is Gonna Come” from Sam himself is lost to history.The reimagining of it was great.     
 

I wonder how much Jim Brown still remembers of that night and what they discussed. 

[Growsonwalls]

I too am a huge Sam Cooke fan. Here's an interview with him. Leslie Odom Jr. does a great job capturing his mannerisms:

ETA: here's Jim Brown's recollection of that night. Unfortunately it doesn't seem like he remembers that much.

 

Edited January 24, 2021 by Growsonwalls

[tennisgurl]

You can definitely tell that this was based on a play, you could have easily had this whole thing just in the hotel room, which is how I assume it mostly is in the play. Huge kudos to the actors and to Regina King for making a movie that is pretty much just four guys talking so engaging, I thought this was really good. The actors all nailed their parts, you can tell how much research was done by them and the writers/directors into all of these people and who they were and how they would have interacted. 

Very interesting that this is set right on the eve of huge life changing choices by all four men. Sam Cooke putting out one of his most famous songs and takes a stand on Civil Rights, Jim Brown quits football to pursue acting, and Cassius Clay joins the Nation of Islam (and takes the name Muhammad Ali) while Malcolm X distances himself from it. 

So did Malcolm X bring that Bob Dylan record just so he could play it for Sam Cooke to tell him he needs to sing about the struggle more? That's impressive, he brought props for this planned conversation. 

[Browncoat]

2 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

So did Malcolm X bring that Bob Dylan record just so he could play it for Sam Cooke to tell him he needs to sing about the struggle more? That's impressive, he brought props for this planned conversation. 

Sam Cooke had already recorded A Change Is Gonna Come before that night, so at least that point was stretched a bit.  

[AgentRXS]

On 1/29/2021 at 8:33 PM, Browncoat said:

Sam Cooke had already recorded A Change Is Gonna Come before that night, so at least that point was stretched a bit.  

Yes. The writers basically took what Sam allegedly said about “Blowin in the Wind”  (that it inspired “A Change is Gonna Come” because he couldn’t believe a white boy wrote a song that encapsulated the civil rights struggle) and put those words in Malcolm’s mouth in the movie.

 It would be easy to think that Malcolm  inspired Sam’s “wokeness” ( and maybe their friendship also did inspire him a bit)  but he was headed in a different creative direction long before that particular night.

Here is Sam performing “Blowin in the Wind” in one of the few televised performances that exist of him:

 

[Racj82]

It has been said that the issues between Cooke and Malcolm were fabricated by the screenwriter to reflect his own issues while writing for star trek discovery and trying to figure out how much of himself he can or should be writing into the show.

[Lady Whistleup]

20 hours ago, Racj82 said:

It has been said that the issues between Cooke and Malcolm were fabricated by the screenwriter to reflect his own issues while writing for star trek discovery and trying to figure out how much of himself he can or should be writing into the show.

I was thinking that. Everything I've always read about Malcolm X was that it would have been out of character to ream out his friends. He was publicly very combative but privately he valued his friends. 

[Racj82]

11 hours ago, Lady Whistleup said:

I was thinking that. Everything I've always read about Malcolm X was that it would have been out of character to ream out his friends. He was publicly very combative but privately he valued his friends. 

Yeah, but it was a bit of creative licence I  was okay with. I'm sure it spoke to larger issues both of them were dealing with it thinking about at the very least.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Golden Globe nominations!

BEST DIRECTOR - Regina King

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE - Leslie Odom, Jr.

BEST ORIGINAL SONG - "Speak Now"

[ElectricBoogaloo]

SAG Award nominations!

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role - Leslie Odom, Jr.

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture

Edited February 4, 2021 by ElectricBoogaloo

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Critics' Choice Award nominations!

Best Picture

Best Director - Regina King

Best Supporting Actor - Leslie Odom Jr.

Best Acting Ensemble

Best Adapted Screenplay - Kemp Powers

Best Song - "Speak Now"

 

[Ohiopirate02]

On 1/29/2021 at 5:35 PM, tennisgurl said:

 

Very interesting that this is set right on the eve of huge life changing choices by all four men. Sam Cooke putting out one of his most famous songs and takes a stand on Civil Rights, Jim Brown quits football to pursue acting, and Cassius Clay joins the Nation of Islam (and takes the name Muhammad Ali) while Malcolm X distances himself from it. 

 

Jim Brown did not retire from football until 1966.  He was set to retire after the 1966 season, but retired early because Art Modell was a dick about him filming The Dirty Dozen.  After this night in Miami, Jim went on to rush over 1400 yards, get his seventh NFL rushing title and the Browns won their last NFL championship in the 1964 season.

[Growsonwalls]

One thing this movie captures about Malcolm X was that he was actually kind of geeky about things he liked. He loved pop music, boxing, photography. 

One thing I wish this movie and Spike Lee's movie had done was shown  Malcolm X with red hair and light skin. His complexion was a big part of his identity -- he talks at length about it in his autobiography. He said it set him apart from the rest of his family.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Fun fact: Nicolette Robinson, who played Barbara Cooke, is the real life wife of Leslie Odom, Jr.

On 2/9/2021 at 11:52 AM, Growsonwalls said:

One thing I wish this movie and Spike Lee's movie had done was shown  Malcolm X with red hair and light skin. His complexion was a big part of his identity -- he talks at length about it in his autobiography. He said it set him apart from the rest of his family.

He definitely had red hair in this movie. It wasn't always obvious because of the lighting but it was really noticeable to me at certain points.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Critics' Choice Award win!

Best Song - "Speak Now"

[thuganomics85]

Loved the film.  I definitely could tell it was originally a play of some kind and I'm sure there was some historical liberties that were taken (especially since; to quote another Leslie Odom Jr. character, no one else was in "the room where it happened"), but I thought it was compelling from start to finish, great dialogue and speeches, beautifully directed and spot-on performances from everyone, especially the leads.

I was initially surprised that there hasn't been any real award consideration for any of the actors (outside of Leslie), but after seeing it, I wonder if the case is that all four lead actors are just so good that it is hard to really separate one out for award talk.  If I was forced to choose, I thought Kingsley Ben-Adir was the best as Malcolm X, but I can also see it getting overlooked since the character/person/performance wasn't as flashy as some of the others, and that's usually how it goes for awards.  But I really thought he did fantastic work here and carried the film in some ways.  Still, Leslie was excellent as well as Sam Cooke and I can see why he might get a little more hype.

While the other two's characters weren't as fleshed out as the ones above, I still thought they were great.  Aldis Hodge is always a delight and he really conveyed a lot of Jim's emotions and feelings with just looks instead of words (see: Jim's reaction to when Beau Bridges' character still wouldn't let him in the house for being black and how he casually used the N-word, after just talking him up earlier.)  Eli Goree was a lot of fun as Cassius Clay, but was able to inject enough pathos and emotion to not make him just a comic relief character (although I did like the laughs he did bring.)  Kind of fun seeing someone I know best for CW shows (Wells on The 100, Mad Dog from Riverdale) getting a prime spot in a fancy film like this!

Loved that we had not one, but two alumni from The Wire here, with Lawrence Gilliard Jr. as one of Cassius' corner men and Lance Reddick as Kareem X/Malcom X's bodyguard.  Plus, Michael Imperioli!

Regina King really is talented at most everything, huh?  To bust out a common line, I'm starting to wonder what she can't do at this rate...

Great film.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Producers Guild of America nomination!

Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures

“Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” (Amazon Studios)
Producers: Sacha Baron Cohen, Monica Levinson, Anthony Hines

“Judas and the Black Messiah” (Warner Bros)
Producers: Charles D. King, Ryan Coogler, Shaka King

“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” (Netflix)
Producers: Denzel Washington, Todd Black

“Mank” (Netflix)
Producers: Ceán Chaffin, Eric Roth, Douglas Urbanski

“Minari” (A24)
Producer: Christina Oh

“Nomadland” (Searchlight Pictures)
Producers: Mollye Asher, Dan Janvey, Frances McDormand, Peter Spears, Chloé Zhao

“One Night in Miami” (Amazon Studios)
Producers: Jess Wu Calder, Keith Calder, Jody Klein

“Promising Young Woman” (Focus Features)
Producers: Josey McNamara, Ben Browning, Ashley Fox, Emerald Fennell

“Sound of Metal” (Amazon Studios)
Producers: Bert Hamelinck, Sacha Ben Harroche

“The Trial of the Chicago 7” (Netflix)
Producers: Marc Platt, Stuart Besser

[ElectricBoogaloo]

BAFTA nomination!

SUPPORTING ACTOR
DANIEL KALUUYA Judas and the Black Messiah
BARRY KEOGHAN Calm With Horses
ALAN KIM Minari
LESLIE ODOM JR. One Night in Miami…
CLARKE PETERS Da 5 Bloods
PAUL RACI Sound of Metal

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Directors Guild of America nomination!

Outstanding Directorial Achievement of a First-Time Feature Film Director
Radha Blank, The Forty-Year-Old Version (Netflix)
Fernando Frias de la Parra, I’m No Longer Here (Netflix)
Regina King, One Night in Miami (Amazon Studios)
Darius Marder, Sound of Metal (Amazon Studios)
Florian Zeller, The Father (Sony Pictures Classics)

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Oscar nominations!

Best Supporting Actor
Sacha Baron Cohen (“The Trial of the Chicago 7”)
Daniel Kaluuya (“Judas and the Black Messiah”)
Leslie Odom Jr. (“One Night in Miami”)
Paul Raci (“Sound of Metal”)
Lakeith Stanfield (“Judas and the Black Messiah”)

Best Adapted Screenplay
Sacha Baron Cohen and Co-Writers (“Borat Subsequent Moviefilm”)
Florian Zeller and Christopher Hampton (“The Father”)
Chloe Zhao (“Nomadland”)
Kemp Powers (“One Night in Miami”)
Ramin Bahrani (“The White Tiger”)

Best Original Song
“Fight For You” from “Judas and the Black Messiah”
“Hear My Voice” from “The Trial of the Chicago 7”
“Husavik” from “Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga”
“lo Sì (Seen)” from “The Life Ahead (La Vita Davanti a Se)”
“Speak Now” from “One Night in Miami”

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Costume Designers Guild Award nomination!

Excellence in Period Film
Emma – Alexandra Byrne
Judas and the Black Messiah – Charlese Antoinette Jones
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom – Ann Roth
Mank – Trish Summerville
One Night in Miami – Francine Jamison-Tanchuck

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Spirit Award win!

Robert Altman Award - “One Night in Miami”

The Independent Spirit Robert Altman Award is presented to the ensemble cast, director and casting director of a film by the Film Independent, a non-profit organization dedicated to independent film and independent filmmakers. It is named after director, screenwriter, and producer Robert Altman, who is considered a "maverick" in naturalistic films.

The award was first given at the 2007 award ceremony.Since its inauguration, the award was always directly given to the winner, without any other nominees.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Leslie Odom, Jr. Performs 'Speak Now' at the Oscars

Leslie Odom, Jr. red carpet interview at the Oscars