Miles Ahead

Synopsis:  For five years during the late 1970s, jazz legend Miles Davis (Don Cheadle) disappeared from the music scene.  Now, although he’s rumoured to have a recorded a new session tape that could mark his comeback Davis remains holed up in his Manhattan apartment, wracked with pain from a hip condition, desperate for the next cheque from his record company and haunted by memories of old glories, past humiliations, and of his years with his great love, dancer Frances Taylor (Emayatzy Corinealdi). But when Dave Brill (Ewan McGregor) a would-be journalist posing as a Rolling Stone reporter cons his way into Davis’ apartment, the two of them set off into the night to retrieve the session tape which has been stolen by shady entrepreneur, Harper Hamilton (Michael Stuhlbarg).

To describe this film as a passion project is an understatement. In addition to being the film’s director and star, Cheadle also takes credits as a producer and co-writer with Steven Baigelman who wrote the 2014 James Brown biopic, Get On Up. Fortunately, the split focus between different roles doesn’t seem to get in the way of his delivering an outstanding performance as Davis nor from his ability to realise a bold vision for how the film plays out on screen and whilst his direction of that bold vision may be uneven, his performance is consummate.

The story, which is part fact and part fiction, seems to adhere to the advice Davis gives his interviewer in the opening scenes: “if you’re going to tell a story, tell it with some attitude”. The attitude Cheadle takes is to shake up the conventional biopic style which he pokes fun at in a scene between Davis and Brill when the journo asks the muso to tell his life story. “I was born, I came to New York, I made some music, I took some drugs, I made some more music, I met you,”” is his answer. Using the post-comeback interview as a frame, the narrative unfolds in two different stages of Davis’s life and career; his early years when he meets Taylor who quickly becomes both his wife and his muse, and his reclusive years when his marriage has ended and he’s in a bad way. The two narratives are wildly and energetically intercut by editors John Axelrad and Kayla Emter and underscored by an array of great Miles Davis tracks.  Corinealdi is good as Taylor but, as the only woman in the cast (other than assorted party-goers) has to work hard to become more than just an accessory to the story. Despite giving up her career for Davis, she eventually comes out the stronger in the face of Davis’ love which, inevitably, evolves into a controlling obsession, destructive for both the relationship and for the music.

As films about music heroes go, this one is more effective than, say, Bird, Clint Eastwood’s 1988 biopic about Charlie Parker but not quite as accurate in its biographical depiction. That's okay by me but the fictionalised heist caper with its shoot outs and its high speed car chase don’t live up to the standard Cheadle sets in his portrayal of Davis, nor to the stylistic tone of the film. Likewise, McGregor’s character relies more on the actor’s charm and toothy grin than it does on any deeper level of performance. To be fair, that’s more a consequence of the script than of his acting choices. Nevertheless, it detracts from what is otherwise a really exciting and entertaining movie with a stellar performance at its heart and some great jazz (sorry, “social” music as Davis preferred to call it) thrown in for good measure. The final comeback concert scene features Cheadle doing some great trumpet acting with the able support of real-life Davis collaborators, Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter (now in their twilight years) and as the music fades, the film ends with a title card stating Miles Davis: 1926 -  . The lack of acknowledgement of his actual death in 1991 is a nice tribute to the longevity of his influence.

 

 

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