Warning: This article contains major spoilers for "The Piano Lesson." The stars of “The Piano Lesson” had quite the spiritual experience by the time the Netflix movie came to its dramatic end. Based on August Wilson’s 1987 Pulitzer Prize-winning play ...

Malcolm Washington makes his directorial debut in the new film, “The Piano Lesson,” based on an August Wilson play about an heirloom piano at the center of one family.

This film adaptation of August Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play falters in some specifics, but is still vital viewing.

That’s the underlying conceit of August Wilson’s play The Piano Lesson, in which a piano passed down through generations of one Black family wields the power to unite that family, though it also threatens to drive them apart.

MY SAY This is a story told largely inside the Charles home, engaging with the ghosts of the past and the pain of repressed memories as exemplified by the piano. It is heavy with metaphor and symbolism, exploring the ways in which the objects passed down through generations carry with them the burdens of history.

As part of Denzel Washington’s agreement with August Wilson’s estate to bring all ten plays in the Century Cycle to the silver screen, The Piano Lesson, directed by Denzel’s son Malcolm in his feature debut,

Alexandre Desplat channeled his love of Duke Ellington into the score of 'The Piano Lesson,' Malcolm Washington's feature directorial debut.

After 'Fences' and 'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom,' Denzel Washington's commitment to bring August Wilson's work to the screen continues.

But with “The Piano Lesson,” Wilson’s work has become a family affair. In 2015, Washington announced that he had made an arrangement with Wilson’s estate to adapt all ten of the plays included in Wilson’s Pittsburgh Cycle – also known as the Century Cycle.