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Don Cheadle — in his triple role as star, director and co-screenwriter — gets to the heart of Miles Davis in "Miles Ahead," a trippy and rather fictionalized take on the jazz legend's life and music.
The main story is pure invention, set around 1979, as Davis is accosted by a pushy music writer, Dave Braden (Ewan McGregor), eager for a story about why the trumpeter hasn't recorded new music in five years. Irritated, and armed with a pistol, Davis enlists Braden as his driver as he tries to retrieve a missing master tape from an unscrupulous music producer (Michael Stuhlbarg).
The adventure, which includes gunplay and a car chase, causes Davis to flash back to his early successes and his tempestuous first marriage to dancer Frances Taylor (Emayatzy Corinealdi).
By abandoning the rigidity of the traditional musical biopic, Cheadle and co-writer Steven Baigelman cut deeper to delve into Davis' music, his drug habits and his violent temper. Cheadle's performance is the drawing card here, as the actor finds the musician beneath the bluster.
'Miles Ahead'
Opens Friday, April 22, at the Broadway Centre Cinemas; rated R for strong language throughout, drug use, some sexuality/nudity and brief violence; 100 minutes.