- Actors: Michael Stuhlbarg, Emayatzy Corinealdi, Lakeith Stanfield, Don Cheadle, Ewan McGregor
- Director: Don Cheadle
- Producers: Don Cheadle, Vince Wilburn, Pamela Hirsch, Lenore Zerman, Darryl Porter
- Format: Subtitled
- Language: English
- Subtitles: French, Portuguese, Mandarin Chinese, Thai, Spanish, English
- Dubbed: French, Portuguese, Thai, Spanish
- Audio Description: English
- Region: All Regions
- Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
- Number of discs: 1
- Rated: R
- Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
- Release Date: July 19, 2016
- Digital Copy Expiration Date: December 31, 2019
- Run Time: 100 minutes
Co-written,
produced, directed and starring Don Cheadle, Miles Ahead is clearly a vanity project for an actor often
delegated to play supporting characters to show his ability as a leading actor
and as a director. Biopics have an awful reputation of providing this
opportunity for actors trying to stretch themselves, but this is not reason
alone to unfairly judge Miles Ahead.
If it is predictable in its conception, at the very least the film takes an
unconventional approach to the material. Even with some expected flashback
sequences of the usual pitfalls of fame, the portion of the film taking place
during Davis’
later years is refreshingly unique despite staying tied to typical themes of
addiction and suffering.
Although just as
much of the running time is spent in flashbacks of his past, the primary
narrative framing the film takes place in the late 1970s after Davis had already taken a five year break
from music. With a bit of fictional adventure tossed in with a lighthearted
edge rarely seen in these films, we join a hermit-like Davis as his privacy is disturbed by an
opportunistic music reporter named Dave Braden (Ewan McGregor). After
attempting to lie his way into an interview with Davis, Braden ends up entangled in the jazz
legend’s life over the course of a couple days. The pair set out on a mission
to retrieve stolen tapes of the latest music recorded of new Davis material.
The remainder of
the narrative is the interspersed flashback sequences of Davis at the peak of his success. Along with
the usual drug and alcohol abuse, Miles
Ahead is also guilty of including another favorite cliché of the artist
narrative. There is always a perfect romance from the past which is often lost
due to the aforementioned addiction, along with adultery. In Miles Ahead, this is Frances Taylor
(Emayatzy Corinealdi), Davis’
dancer wife that he stifled and cheated on. Ironically, these moments feel more
fabricated due to their generic qualities, despite being far truer than
anything in the 1970s section of the film.
Miles Ahead is a creative approach to
variation on the genre, often very obviously self aware in this attempt. While
far from perfect, it does just enough to make Cheadle’s showcase a success. His
performance is solid without overtaking the film, which also shows restraint in
the screenwriting. The direction is a bit over-ambitious stylistically, but
also suggests a promising future for the actor as a filmmaker. If Miles Ahead was a vanity project, it
served its purpose well enough for Cheadle to have options in the future.
With the
addition of the caper elements into the story, there is less time for sequences
of music, though Davis’
work is sprinkled throughout the soundtrack. The soundtrack is probably the
biggest asset of the film’s high definition on Blu-ray. The disc’s special
features include a Q&A from Sundance, a featurette on Cheadle’s
transformation into Davis,
and a commentary track with Cheadle and co-writer Steven Baigelman. The release
also comes with a digital HD copy of the film.
Entertainment Value:
7.5/10
Quality of
Filmmaking: 7/10
Historical
Significance: 5/10
Special Features: 6/10
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