In August Wilson’s play “ The Piano Lesson ” — brought back to Broadway in 2022, adapted meticulously and with largely the same cast for the screen by Malcolm Washington — Berniece has not touched the piano since her mother died. It just sits in her living room, a constant reminder of all her parents, and their parents before them, endured so that future generations could be free. The piano, in a literary sense, is a powerful and not-so-subtle symbol, representing her family’s accomplishments and sacrifices. Carved into the polished wood surface of this treasured heirloom are the faces of her ancestors.

Berniece has a brother called Boy Willie, who comes bursting into her house at the top of the play with a plan. Boy Willie believes he can get enough money selling that piano (plus a truck full of watermelons he has parked outside) to buy a piece of the land his family once worked as slaves. He reckons the piano is as much his as Berniece’s, and this is what their parents would have wanted. But the past is present in “The Piano Lesson,” which is set in 1936, but haunted by history. Upstairs lurks a ghost of the white man whose family “owned” theirs, and from whom their father stole back the all-important piano.

Starring Danielle Deadwyler and John David Washington as the siblings, “The Piano Lesson” presents a challenging dilemma: One sibling seeks progress; the other refuses to let go of the past. Although most of the cast is the same as the Broadway production, the movie undeniably belongs to Deadwyler. With “The Piano Lesson,” Wilson crafted one of the most significant female roles of his career, and in Deadwyler, we find a leading lady who radiates intensity even in silence, uncovering nuances the author himself might not have anticipated — which is helpful, given the somewhat stage-bound feel of much of the dialogue.

When Boy Willie and his friend Lymon (Ray Fisher) arrive, looking like they have everything figured out, Berniece is upstairs in bed. Their uncle Doaker (Samuel L. Jackson, delivering one of his best, and least over-the-top, screen performances) assesses them and chuckles, “Berniece ain’t gonna sell that piano.” Every time she looks at the instrument, Berniece sees the tears her mother shed over it. Her father died for the piano, pursued by a white mob and burned alive after he and two accomplices “recovered” it three decades earlier. This heist, if you want to call it that, opens the film, bathed in the light of red, white and blue fireworks. This choice instantly makes the film cinematic, while traumatic flashbacks later in the film expand upon the confines of Wilson’s one-room play.

Considering that “The Piano Lesson” deals with the themes of family heritage, it’s fitting that another family came together to create it. As you might have guessed, Malcolm Washington — making his feature directing debut — is the son of acting legend Denzel Washington, who found one of his most memorable roles in another Wilson adaptation, “Fences.” John David Washington, who played Boy Willie in the Broadway production as well, is seven years older than his brother Malcolm, whose sister Katia joins Denzel among the film’s producers.

One could speculate about how the film’s themes resonate with the Washingtons, though “The Piano Lesson” possesses a universality unique among Wilson’s 10 Pittsburgh-set plays — the “Century Cycle,” in which the writer captured the full range of African American triumphs and struggles, with one play per decade. While all 10 are regularly performed on stages across America, the Pulitzer-winning “The Piano Lesson” encompasses the broadest span of time, drawing the spirits of past generations into the picture — not just Sutter’s ghost, lurking upstairs, but the family members whose faces adorn the heirloom.

Although set in the 1930s, the play resonates with decades of social progress, highlighting the stark contrast between those who remained in Mississippi and other Southern states (represented by the character Boy Willie) and those who participated in the Great Migration to the North, like Berniece and her daughter Maretha (Skylar Aleece Smith). The play critiques a racist system of imprisonment, which Boy Willie experienced, and the even darker legacy of vigilante justice, which claimed not just their father, but also Berniece's husband, Crawley (whose backstory remains somewhat unclear).

Even more significantly, “The Piano Lesson” embodies the white men who owned or oppressed their family in the form of Sutter, whose presence still haunts them. We are told that the old bigot fell down a well, but Berniece suspects her brother might have pushed him. Boy Willie insists it was the “Ghosts of the Yellow Dog,” introducing another supernatural element into the narrative. Malcolm Washington portrays Sutter's ghost, leaving any other avenging forces to our imaginations. Instead, he focuses primarily on the living room, where Doaker and his old friend Wining Boy (a remarkable Michael Potts) share stories. The two also sing, infusing fresh life into a film so deeply rooted in the past.

Ultimately, “The Piano Lesson” feels more dialogue-driven than necessary, considering the visual elements Wilson provided Washington to work with: There's the ghost upstairs, but also the spirits watching over the family through the piano. The film comes alive as Lymon purchases a new silk suit, following the young men out on the town to the Hill District's legendary Crawford Grill. Boy Willie has his own vision for the future, but Berniece also has options, as embodied by the ambitious preacher (Corey Hawkins) who reluctantly agrees to bless her house. It will take more than that to exorcise the ghost. If Sutter represents the psychological trauma that still haunts their family, then ancestral music is the force that can set them free.