One Night in Miami...

The source is Kemp Powers's play, and the event is real. On the night of 25 February 1964, after Cassius Clay won the world heavyweight title, four men met in a Miami motel room: Clay, Malcolm X, the footballer Jim Brown and the singer Sam Cooke. What was actually said that night is not known. The film fills that gap and ties it to a question: what is the use of a Black American being famous, and what should be done with the fame? Malcolm X wants all of them inside the movement; Cooke argues that founding his own record label and selling to a white audience is also a form of struggle. The argument turns hard. Regina King's first feature as director. Kingsley Ben-Adir plays Malcolm X, Eli Goree plays Clay, Aldis Hodge plays Brown and Leslie Odom Jr. plays Cooke. It happens almost entirely in one room and does not hide its origins on stage. A strong choice for anyone who likes drama built on talk and 1960s America. For a viewer wanting incident, four men argue for the length of the film.