MOVIES / TELEVISION
THURSDAY, JANUARY 21, 2021 • THE BULLETIN
GO! MAGAZINE • PAGE 21
Regina King’s directorial debut shines
BY MAKENZIE WHITTLE
The Bulletin
More Information
R
egina King knows how to make an
entrance. From starring in films
stretching back to her debut in 1991’s
“Boyz N the Hood,” she’s given stunning
performances for decades including her Os-
car-winning turn in 2018’s “If Beale Street
Could Talk.”
Now 30 years after stepping onto the sil-
ver screen, she steps behind the camera to
deliver a powerful and gorgeously shot “One
Night in Miami” as director (another suc-
cessful first).
Inspired by a 1964 meeting between ac-
tivist Malcolm X, singer Sam Cooke, foot-
baller Jim Brown and boxer Cassius Clay in
X’s Hampton House Motel room after Clay’s
win against Sonny Liston, the details of
which the film dramatizes as no one really
knows what was discussed.
Kemp Powers, writer of the film and the
play it’s based on, imagined a deeply stirring
conversation between the four great Black
men at the height of the Civil Rights move-
ment in the Jim Crow-era south.
We start out with the individual stories
of each man: Malcolm X (Kingsley Ben-
Adir) is considering leaving the Nation of
Islam, Cooke (Leslie Odom Jr.) plays for a
unreceptive all-white crowd at the Copaca-
bana nightclub, Clay (Goree) loses a fight at
Wembley Stadium, Brown (Aldis Hodge)
“One Night in Miami”
114 minutes
Rated R for language throughout
õõõó
Amazon Studios/ABKCO Films
Clockwise from left: Leslie Odom Jr, Aldis Hodge, Kingsley Ben-Adir and Eli Goree in a scene from
“One Night in Miami” (2021).
visits a warm but racist family friend in
Georgia.
Their stories converge Feb. 25, 1964 in
Miami, where Clay is named heavyweight
champion of the world and the four return
to X’s motel room for a supposed party. But
it turns out that they are the only ones X has
invited. They spend the night debating over
bowls of vanilla ice cream and sneaky sips
from Cooke’s flask about the movements
taking place across the country, challeng-
ing X’s ideas of absolutes, Clay’s intentions
on joining the Nation of Islam and Cooke’s
embrace of inoffensive music to his white
audience. The latter is the most interesting
and powerful argument in the film — how
celebrities can use their platforms as mega-
phones to important issues.
It is very clear that the film is based on
a stage play and it’s no wonder that Odom
Jr. and Ben-Adir are the strongest in the al-
ready strong cast as they are the ones with
the most stage experience of the four leads.
They both play the swings of high motion
and subtle introspections with such ease that
pulls you in with their electric protrails.
It can feel a little long with a couple of
moments of exposition in the opening
scenes that feel slightly forced, but the bulk
of the one-room film shines through it,
thanks to King.
She really directs the hell out of this, keep-
ing the four leads in frame and cleverly uses
the space to keep the audience engaged in
everything around them — much like a play
— sometimes focusing away from the main
action briefly to study what is happening in
the background.
Even with a couple of liberties taken with
historical accuracy and the timeline, “One
Night in Miami” remains consistently pres-
ent and relevant thanks to King’s stunning
direction, Powers’s beautiful script and
solid acting throughout, leaving you with a
gut-punching ending that sticks.
e e
Reporter: 541-383-0304, mwhittle@bendbulletin.com
TV review: ‘WandaVision’
BY MAKENZIE WHITTLE
The Bulletin
It’s been a year and a half since we had
a Marvel Cinematic Universe property to
stick in our eyeballs. Given the amount of
time that has passed it’s easy to feel down-
right giddy when you see the Marvel Studios
title card pop up with that iconic music.
Then “WandaVision” starts and you may
be left wondering, “what is going on?”
It is a complete departure from every-
thing the MCU has produced up until this
point the series sets up a world apart from
reality.
This is nothing new in the comic book
realm, alternate universes, realities and sto-
rylines are common, but this is the first
look we’re getting of something different on
screen.
The first episode starts with a jaunty
tune reminiscent of those classic ‘50s
multi-camera sitcoms like “I Love Lucy”
and “The Dick Van Dyke Show” and by
episode two, we jump forward to the ‘60s
“Bewitched”-style. Everything including
the aspect ratio, sound and color design,
sets, “commercial break,” even down to the
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