One Night in Miami tells the tale of four revered and exalted men — civil rights activist Malcolm X (Kingsley Ben-Adir), boxer and activist Cassius Clay (Eli Goree), singer and songwriter Sam Cooke (Leslie Odom Jr.), and football player Jim Brown (Aldis Hodge) — at the cusp of change. One Night in Miami is replete with moving conversations and interpersonal drama that raises the tension without relying on outside forces to do so. The film is actress Regina King's directorial debut and it's a timely, wonderfully resplendent exploration of the men behind the renown, stripped of their titles while among friends and ready for the next stage in their lives.
Based on the play by Kemp Powers (who also writes the film’s screenplay), One Night in Miami is set in Miami Beach, Florida on the night of February 25, 1964. Cassius Clay, who has yet to formally change his name to Muhammad Ali, has just won a heavyweight boxing championship and is on top of the world. He is later joined by his three friends at a local hotel where they argue, laugh, trade stories, and enjoy their friendship, all while simultaneously challenging each other to be better men in every aspect of their lives.
The film is held up by the strength of the characters' relationships with each other while centralizing its focus within the hotel room, which acts as a four-walled keeper of secrets. King masterfully weaves in and out of the small rooms, pulling back when the four men are facing each other on the beds or sitting across from one another in a corner table. One Night in Miami is certainly staged like a play and King makes the best use out of a small, enclosed setting to create a personal, intimate atmosphere.
What’s perhaps most impressive is the way in which the film explores the interiority of these larger-than-life men. It isn’t often that movies step back to explore legendary figures as human, usually treating them as the icons they are remembered as by history and nothing more. However, One Night in Miami masterfully and incisively captures the nature of these men and does so on an emotional level, invoking the fear, doubt, pride, passion, and anger they feel and how they share it among friends.
One Night in Miami is driven by its dialogue, which never lets up and is responsible for building the tension and exploring the friendships at the core of the film, rising and falling with every disagreement or joyous celebration. It’s established that the four men have known each other for a long time and, while they don’t always see eye-to-eye on everything, their ardent candor is sincere and compelling. What’s more, the script ensures that every character gets his time in the limelight, seamlessly shifting the focus from Malcolm X to Sam Cooke, Cassius Clay to Jim Brown. Amongst each other, they’re no longer giants or pop culture icons, they’re friends reflecting on life and the moment.
Their relationships are elevated by the cast’s superb performances, each one poignant and layered, balanced by the heavy weight the men carry and the joy they feel in each other's company. They struggle with living in the moment, but that spark and the depth of their relationship keeps them from drowning in the pressures and the darkness that so often colors their daily lives. With Powers' thoughtful script, the actors' outstanding portrayals, and King's wonderful directing, One Night in Miami is a must-watch.
One Night in Miami is available to watch January 15, 2021 on Amazon Prime. It runs 110 minutes and is rated R for language throughout.
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