ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI
Cert
15 ★★★★
On Amazon Prime now
This thought-provoking ensemble drama imagines a meeting of four black icons of 60s’ America – activist Malcolm X (Kingsley Ben-adir), boxer Cassius Clay (Eli Goree), singer Sam Cooke (Leslie Odom Jr) and NFL star Jim Brown (Aldis Hodge).
Weirdly, this famous quartet really did meet up together in a motel room in February 1964 following Clay’s triumphant heavyweight title bout with Sonny Liston.
Working off Kemp Powers’s 2013 stage play, actor-turned-director Regina King stages the meeting not as a celebration but a clash of personalities and conflicting visions of African-american identity.
While the theatrical origins weigh a
little heavy on this wordy drama, the movie’s slow pace allows us to savour the great writing and powerhouse performances.
King gives her actors plenty of space, allowing them to dance around each either, feinting and landing stinging verbal blows.
Occasionally the film escapes the confines of the motel room. The title fight is briefly but thrillingly staged, and an opening scene involving Hodge and Beau Bridges powerfully exposes the endemic racism that is still tearing at the fabric of America.
All four performances are excellent but Goree stands out as the boxer who would soon become Muhammad Ali.
Not only does he nail his mannerisms and voice but he shows us a man at a crossroads, a highspirited young rogue beginning to feel the crushing weight of history.