Making a film biography is fraught with hazards, even more so when tackling the life of an artist. Unless the movie is based on the subject’s autobiography, who can truly say where their inspiration comes from, especially if the artist themself can’t say for sure what muse speaks to them or why?
That being the case, it certainly hasn’t stopped filmmakers from making music biopics and with three in current release – I Saw the Light about Hank Williams, Born to be Blue which focuses on Chet Baker and Don Cheadle’s pet project about Miles Davis, Miles Ahead – this trend shows no signs of slowing. Cheadle’s film is perhaps the most unique of the bunch as the actor spent a decade getting the project made, going so far as learning how to play the trumpet and taking the reins to direct for the first time.
The result is an ambitious but compromised and flawed film that suffers from far too much conjecture and far too little fact, as well as the inclusion of a fictional character that only serves to call into question the validity of the entire movie. Eschewing the traditional structure of looking at the artist’s entire life, Ahead focuses on a period in Davis’s career, circa 1979, when most of his major triumphs were in the past and the musician was adrift on a sea of uncertainty and substance abuse.
Having retired five years earlier, Davis has become a recluse in his Manhattan apartment, a pigsty that reflects his current state of mind. However, rumors of his making a comeback prompts Rolling Stone writer Dave Brill (Ewan McGregor) to knock on his door, hoping to land a scoop by getting the jazz great to agree to a sit-down interview. He’s dismissed out of hand by Davis but the musician reconsiders as he enlists the writer to help him recover a tape containing new music that’s been stolen. As this odd couple careens about the Big Apple on a wild goose chase, we get an intimate look at Davis as he struggles to reconcile his place in the world, haunted by memories of his failed first marriage to his one true love, Frances Taylor (Emayatzy Corinealdi).
A great deal of what we see is fictionalized, most glaringly the character of Brill, who was created by screenwriter Steven Baigelman and Cheadle simply because they had to shoehorn a bankable white actor into the film in order to secure financing. This is an unfortunate and necessary evil in today’s cinematic climate and the film suffers as a result. The character isn’t fully realized in the writing and McGregor struggles to bring him to life. That the two characters end up on a madcap journey to nowhere speaks to the commitment all involved had towards this strategy.
As far as Cheadle’s chops behind the camera are concerned, he certainly shows promise as many scenes are smartly shot while the film never feels bloated, a welcome surprise as most first features suffer from the director’s reticence to cut anything that’s been shot. That being said, the movie comes off as disjointed at times with the transitions between the past and the present being abrupt and confused, leading to a sense of narrative choppiness that proves distracting.
Of course, if Cheadle were to say that the film was constructed to resemble a piece of musical improvisation, it may help explain Ahead’s structure. Still, this would hardly be an adequate defense, as an aesthetic choice in one artistic arena doesn’t necessarily translate to another. However, what’s not in question is Cheadle’s performance, an immersive transformation that delves into the artist’s complexities and serves as a showcase for his special brand of musical genius. At its best, Ahead and Cheadle bring Davis back to life, and that in and of itself is nearly worth the price of admission.
