TIFF 2020 Review: One Night in Miami

Title: One Night in Miami 
Year: 2020
Director: Regina King
Country: US
Language: English

Of all the films at the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival, One Night in Miami was the picture I was looking forward to the most. Four towering African American icons (Cassius Clay, Malcolm X, Sam Cook & Jim Brown) at varying levels of their fame, in one night, in one room. Sounds like a screenwriters wet dream, but it did actually happen in real life. This is the fourth film I watched digitally from TIFF and perhaps the one I'll enjoy the most. 

Cassius Clay (Eli Goree) , Malcolm X (Kingsley Ben-Adir) , Sam Cooke (Leslie Odom Jr.), and Jim Brown (Aldis Hodge) gather to discuss their roles in the civil rights movement and cultural upheaval of the 60s.

Like most films adapted from a play (Kemp Powers wrote the play) that is set in primarily one location,  dialogue and performances are the driving force. I was impressed by the casting; Kingsley does a remarkable job getting Malcolm X's mannerisms down, moreso than Denzel Washington did in Spike Lee's Malcolm X (1993). Goree gives a physical precense to Ali that is more in-tune with the real man than Will Smith in Ali (2001). 

Though there is little "action", One Night in Miami has an intoxicating centerpiece discussion that drives the importance of African American people's roles in society. Thtough their discussion we understand the conflicts within the Civil Rights Movement and dive into a discourse of toxic masculinity. I appreciate the main internal struggle, which is "What is the obligation of an artist to his society?" 

One can see parallels to the current Black Lives Matter Movement in the struggles of our four main characters. As a white male, I found myself priveleged to be a fly-on-the-wall during these disucssions of great importance. I left the film asking myself many questions "what should I be doing to help black lives matter?" and I feel many audience members will come out feeling the same way.