By Justin Livingston
Don Cheadle makes his directing debut with the release of Miles Ahead, a biopic about the legendary trumpet player Miles Davis, which he not only co-wrote and stars in, but also partially funded.
Traditionally, biopics are told in cradle-to-grave format, a recent rising trend for film makers is to depict a smaller portion of their subject’s lives’. Miles Ahead examines the period in Davis’s career/life around the early 70s, in which he mysteriously stops recording music and disappears from the public eye.
Far more entertaining than a lifeless chronological narrative, is to see what would happen when audiences catch Davis in the throes of his self-imposed exile, hulled up in his Upper West Side apartment and descended upon him with a multitude of dubious shysters with all kinds of self-advancing angles.
Far more entertaining than a lifeless chronological narrative, is to see what would happen when audiences catch Davis in the throes of his self-imposed exile, hulled up in his Upper West Side apartment and descended upon him with a multitude of dubious shysters with all kinds of self-advancing angles. It all starts with the Rolling Stone reporter Dave Brill played by Ewan McGregor who has been sent by the recording label to write an article chronicling the great come back of Miles Davis, which Davis himself has made no plans for. Brill, who is initially greeted by Davis with a left jab, eventually becomes somewhat of a sidekick to Davis and the two team up and get into all types of chaotic misadventures in attempts to recover a stolen tape containing Davis’ only recorded material since having been stuck in his musical hiatus. Harper Hamilton, (Michael Stuhlbarg) a record promoter, boosts the tape in hopes of getting his own young, up-and-coming artist played by Lakeith Lee Stanfield an audience with Davis, but his intentions turn shady when Davis instead rudely dismisses their proposal. All of this taking them on a wild ride through dorm rooms, dark alleys and night clubs amid fist fights, car chases and shootouts.
The improvisational spirit of jazz is deeply embedded in the film, as the story drifts in and out of different time periods of Davis’s life. Shedding light on the nature of Davis’ struggle to rediscover life through the regrets and restraints from the past.
This is a very enjoyable film. It is an obvious labor of love, as Cheadle poured his soul into the project. I give Miles Ahead 3.5 out of 5 blaring trumpets. It’s a must see for any music fan, casual viewers catch it Netflix.