APRIL 4, 2016
It’s musical biography month, it seems, at the movies. Last week, we had Marc Abrahamson’s disappointing bio of country music legend Hank Williams in “I Saw the Light,” and up to bat this week is Don Cheadle’s take on jazz trumpeter Miles Davis in “Miles Ahead.” In comparing the two, almost everything that “I Saw the Light” did wrong, “Miles Ahead” does right.
It starts with an understanding of and appreciation for the music, which Cheadle communicates consistently to the audience. In “I Saw the Light,” playing music was what Hank Williams did. In “Miles Ahead,” music was who Miles Davis was.
Rather than covering Davis’ life in a cradle-to-grave style of storytelling, Cheadle, (who co-produced, co-wrote, directed and stars in “Miles Ahead”) focuses on two periods in Davis’ life. In the 1950s, Davis is a sharply-dressed jazz musician on the rise who encounters the woman who would become the love of his life, dancer Frances Taylor (a very fine Emayatzy Corinealdi), and is working hard with his combo is developing his signature sound. Cheadle takes the time to show us the musician at work, a crucial step that too few music bios take the time to do, and a step that only gives us a deeper understanding as to why Davis stood out from the pack.
The second period on which Cheadle focuses is the mid to late 1970s when Davis hits a writers block and produces little new musical work. He instead lives a hermit-like existence, wandering around his house wearing pajamas and chain-smoking, and it is then when he encounters journalist Dave Braden (Ewan McGregor in a thankless role), who claims to be from Rolling Stone and wants to write the story of the big Miles Davis comeback that has yet to happen. Though Braden himself is fictional, he is said to be a composite of several reporters who at the time were trying to get the truth behind Davis’ disappearance from the music scene.
This is the section of the film that is eliciting howls from some Davis purists since it depicts events in his life that never happened. The MacGuffin in the 70s story is a master tape of new Davis compositions that his record company desperately wants, as well as the sleazeball manager (an effectively oily performance by Michael Stuhlbarg) of a rival jazz trumpeter. The tape keeps getting stolen and re-stolen, and Cheadle throws in a car chase and gunfight, both of which are just ludicrous.
Still, Cheadle is superb throughout, especially in the 70s sections, never playing the mumbling recluse as a stereotype. As assured as Cheadle’s performance is, he’s even better serving as the film’s director. Cheadle is able to do with visuals here what great jazz musicians achieve with sound, using a dynamic visual palette in what looks like a great improv but one where the director is firmly in control.
If only Cheadle had stuck with what really happened in Davis’ life and eliminated all that “Starsky & Hutch”-type of shoot-out nonsense in the ’70s scenes, “Miles Ahead” could have been one of the great music bios ever. As it stands, it is still a good film that gives non-jazz aficionados like me some insight as to why Miles Davis is revered by fans around the world to this day.
GRADE: B
