Regina King has chosen a material based on a play. It is an adaptation of the play One Nigh In Miami, by filmmaker, screenwriter and playwright Kemp Powers, which premiered in 2013 at the Rogue Machine Theatre in the city of Los Angeles. The play won him several awards and he adapted his own play and wrote the screenplay for the film.

Kemp Powers has also written episodes of the Star Trek Discovery television series, but this year his name has been ringing a lot, because he is the co-writer and co-director of the most recent hit produced by Pixar Studios and distributed by Disney, the animated film Soul.

It is important to know the context in which the story takes place and who were, in real life, the four main characters.

Cassius Clay ( Muhammad Ali) American boxer, considered one of the best of all time. Winner of the gold medal at the Olympic Games in Rome in 1960, becoming in 1964, with only 22 years, world champion, precisely in that year, in which the story of the film takes place, is when he decided to convert to Islam, joining the organization Nation of Islam, and changed his name, from that moment the world would know him as Muhammad Ali. He opposed to be recruited by the armed forces of his country to go to fight in Vietnam, so he was brought to trial and sentenced to five years in prison, although he would be released on bail and pay a considerable fine of approximately ten thousand dollars. He was a world-famous boxer, civil rights activist and an icon around the world. All about Ali in this Link

Sam Cooke was an American singer, whom many call THE King of Soul, being one of its pioneers. His music was also gospel and rhythm and blues. But he had an entrepreneurial vision, being the first African-American to create his own record label, which would make him a lot of money. But that did not detract from his support for the causes of the civil struggles of the black population. In 1986 he was inducted into the Rock Hall of Fame and is one of the most influential musicians of his time.Read more about Sam at this Link

Jim Brown, was an NFL player, in the Cleveland Browns team, considered the best running back in the NFL, is an American soccer legend. From 1964 to 2010 he also decided to be an actor, working in films and television series. He retired as a player to devote himself to his film career and has also been a constant defender of the struggle for civil rights in the United States. He is the only one still alive, currently 84 years old.More about him, in this Link

Malcolm X, the controversial African-American rights activist, who joined the Nation of Islam while in prison and became a minister in the organization. He was a leader and an excellent speaker, his speech was always radical and clashed with the ideas of the other African-American leader Martin Luther King. As he was a communist, the FBI always kept him under surveillance. After many differences with the leader of the Nation of Islam, he left the organization and founded his own. He was assassinated on February 21, 1965 at the Audubon Ballroom in Manhattan. I recommend you watch the excellent movie Malcom X, directed by Spike Lee and starring Denzel Whasington.All his life in thisLink

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What is the plot of the movie?

February 25, 1964, the night Cassius Clay defeated Sonny Liston at Convention Hall in Miami Beach, Florida. The four main characters of the story: Cassius, Sam, Jim and Malcolm X, who were friends, gathered in a Miami hotel room to celebrate the boxer's victory. This meeting of four friends, successful African-American men, will lead to conversations where each one will expose his political ideals, Cassius will inform that he will convert to Islam and they will even have strong discussions, due to the different points of view of each one of them, before the problems of racism and the fight for the rights of blacks in America. It was a turbulent time, whose problems, fifty years later, are still valid.

It is a film with a political message. The subject it addresses is very topical. Racism, discrimination and inequality are still a problem in the United States, one only has to read the news of the last few years and the emergence of the BLM movement to realize that, despite some changes, the root of the problem remains.

Regina King does an excellent job, taking the theatrical piece and transferring the story to the big screen. She shows undeniable talent in both the camera work and in working with the actors. He also shows us the political discourse and ideas he espouses.

Although those ideas are already present in the play, there is no doubt that the director is also attracted to a discourse of struggle with more pressure within the system. A brave stance on her part and one that I respect but do not share many of the ideas she puts forward.

The first half hour of the film, is the presentation of the four characters, there is more dynamism in the camera movements and the pace is faster, showing us the racial, professional and personal problems of each of the four protagonists. For example, Jim Brown will be well liked by his high school coach, but because he is black he won't let him into his house. These types of situations were common at the time, and this aspect is shown very well in the film.

When the four characters are in the room, the film starts to develop, there is a great job by the director, to keep the story funny and at the same time throw darts about the political situation, which seems not to have changed much.

Of course, there are moments when it is impossible not to feel too theatrical. But the performances and the dynamics of the main characters, with snappy dialogue and appropriate changes of pace, kept me interested in the story again.

There are a couple of things I didn't like about the film: the first is a long sequence of Malcom X and Cassius Clay in their Muslim prayer rite, I understand that Malcom had already convinced Clay to join Islam, but that sequence seems to me to be excessive in the film.

Another thing is the idealization of the four characters, sketched too neatly, as if they were overly noble people. For example, a call from Malcom to his wife and where he stays talking to his daughter, all to make the viewer feel great sympathy for the character. They were human, with virtues, but also with great flaws. And although they argue and fight for their points of view, we never get to see in depth the chiaroscuro of the four characters.

But the film is entertaining and its mise-en-scene is attractive, it has small moments that may bore some viewers, but the issues raised and the performances quickly bring us back to the story.

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Kingsley Ben-Adir plays Malcolm X . He is a successful British stage actor, who has won awards for several of his performances in plays. He has appeared in television series, such as the hit Peaky Blinders and the cancelled Netflix series The OA. His character was, for me, the most difficult to play. He does a good job, but I had a hard time seeing him as Malcolm X. I didn't quite believe him in character.

Eli Goree plays Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali). This actor is known for his work on the Riverdale series. At first I find him a very annoying character, his attitude, his pedantry, but I'm sure the boxer, when he was 22 years old, was just as the actor portrayed him. I have not seen the actor's previous works, here he plays the young Clay who the next day would announce to the media his conversion to Islam.

Actor and singer Leslie Odom Jr. plays Sam Cooke, making a sympathetic character, with whom I could feel sympathy and understand his point of view. The actor has already demonstrated his talent as an actor and singer in Hamilton, in addition to his work in the films Harriet and Murder on the Orient Express. I really liked this actor.

Aldis Hodge plays Jim Brown, the NFL star, who is not as radical as Malcom, he knows the racial problem of his country, he suffers from it, although he has the privilege of being famous. I also liked this character a lot and the actor does it very well, I remember seeing him work in the movie Straight Outta Compton.

Trailer

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