It is well-known that Cassius Clay, Jim Brown, Sam Cooke, and Malcolm X met in a hotel room on February 25, 1964, in Miami, Florida. The legend about that convergence of the most powerful Black men in civil rights, entertainment, and sports worlds has grown for decades, but no one knows what took place during their time together in that room. In her feature directorial debut, Oscar-winning actress Regina King teams with Soul writer/co-director Kemp Powers to provide some idea of what might have happened in the film adaptation of Powers’s play, One Night in Miami. Can the King-Powers duo make that night in Miami one to remember or is this story better left as folklore?
One Night in Miami’s four-person ensemble of Kinsley Ben-Adir, Leslie Odom Jr., Eli Goree, and Aldis Hodge is easily among the best collective acting performances in this awards season. Each member demonstrates a deeper understanding of their respective icon as they produce realistic depictions to the point where they could carry a biopic individually. Overall, it is a stellar team effort, but Ben-Adir and Odom Jr. are the standouts. Their scenes together are the film’s most explosive, but both performances are award-worthy in their own right.
Ben-Adir gives a portrayal of Malcolm unlike any other in film. It doesn’t pack the jolt of Denzel Washington’s 1992 Oscar-nominated performance, but Ben-Adir’s stint is more nuanced with pieces of Malcolm aside from his firebrand image. Seeing Ben-Adir’s range as he moves from fearing for his life to mentor to hellraiser to nerd throughout the film makes you wonder how much farther his chameleon talents go.
Odom Jr. matches soulfulness one would expect from Cooke after listening to his secular hits. Odom Jr.’s performance reaches award caliber heights when that energy turns fiery to deliver his most potent lines in the moments when Cooke has to defend his career choices against others’ judgments.
Directing a film centered on four giants in American history would be a daunting task for Hollywood's best directors. Taking on that assignment as your feature directorial debut is either an announcement that you will be among the best in the game or foolish pride. Fortunately for us, King makes it clear she’s on a fast track to that elite class of filmmakers.
There is a lot to love about King’s turn in the director’s chair, such as her casting decisions and how well she positioned the cast to give authentic portrayals of their real-life counterparts. However, what takes it from a promising debut to a powerhouse is how King centers One Night in Miami around the film's conversations and messaging vs. an ode to its historical figures.
She guides the viewer on a journey through the conversations and conflicts that made the evening meaningful with Spike Lee or Coen Brothers-like intricacy instead of selling the icons’ greatness to the audience. King’s decision to take that perspective gives the film an organic yet poignant storytelling style with Oscar-caliber results.
Powers’s screenplay is exceptional because of the dialogue alone. It becomes special when you consider how he highlights the quartet’s lesser discussed aspects instead of relying on their strengths to move the story. That humanizing element works well as Powers shows the group facing the same questions and struggles present-day Black Americans grapple with regarding activism and empowerment. The scenes he wrote between Cooke and Malcolm capture that best and establishes the heart of the movie.
One Night in Miami is much more than memorable. It entertains with excellent performances by a foursome of talented actors headlined by Ben-Adir giving the most complete Malcolm portrayal to date and Odom Jr.’s smooth but spirited Cooke blazing the screen. It enlightens with King’s direction and Powers’s script viewing these icons solely as Black men auditing their place in the world and the Civil Rights Movement while challenging the audience to do the same in their lives.
That combination makes One Night in Miami a current must-see and an essential film that should gain audiences' appreciation for years to come with every viewing.
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