It must have been in 1989 or so that I first saw Colors, director Dennis Hopper’s story about police and gang violence in Los Angeles. Set mostly in South Central and East L.A., it starred Sean Penn and Robert Duvall as partnered cops — a rookie and his mentor — trying to stanch the bleeding in an area scarred by the violent clashes of the Bloods, the Crips, and Hispanic street gangs. My memory is that it was a pretty fresh exploration of the gang world, one less cartoonish than a lot of its predecessors (of course, I was also fifteen or sixteen at the time, so don’t hold me to that). But if many of the details are foggy, I always remember one thing about Colors: it was the first time I can remember seeing Don Cheadle on screen.
Cheadle played Rocket, one of the gang leaders, and even then, in a role that could so easily fall into tired stereotypes, the actor made an impression. Since that early appearance, he has moved in and out of films big and small, commercial and not so commercial, but in nearly all of them he has brought something worth watching to the project. His turn as the sadistic yet oddly endearing Mouse in Devil in a Blue Dress (1995) brought him to a wider audience, and from there the floodgates opened, leading to Boogie Nights, Hotel Rwanda, and the Iron Man series, where once again he brings some nuance to a genre that so often lacks it.
This week, Valley filmgoers have a chance to catch the actor’s directorial debut in Miles Ahead, a bracing look at the tumultuous life of jazz legend Miles Davis (Cheadle). With a well-cultivated raspiness and a great ear for Davis’ speech, Cheadle disappears into the role, a task made a bit easier by the chance to hide behind Davis’ late-era large sunglasses and flashy wardrobe. And while the film does explore the earlier years of Davis’ life and career — particularly the memories of his doomed marriage to dancer Frances Taylor (Emayatzy Corinealdi), who was his muse during the fruitful years that would see him release his Sketches of Spain album — it focuses mostly on an invented interaction with fictional ’70s-era Rolling Stone reporter Dave Braden (Ewan McGregor).
When Braden first shows up on Davis’ doorstep, he gets his clock cleaned. But the odd couple quickly pair up for what has to be the year’s most unconventional caper film as they try to recover a stolen tape of Davis’ latest music. For a subject like Davis — by then drug-addled and not always as grounded in reality as he could have been — it’s an inspired way to tell the tale. Always larger than life and sometimes his own worst enemy, Davis was anything but conventional, and Cheadle, thankfully, recognizes that right out of the gate. The result, like a lot of Davis’ music, is both familiar sounding and wildly different, and probably won’t please those who might prefer Glenn Miller. But for those looking for one artist’s take on another — and it bears mention here that Cheadle, who performs with Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter in a few scenes, has been playing the horn since he was 10 years old himself — Miles Ahead is refreshing in its individuality.
Also this week: I made a crack in a recent column about how directors know their strengths, and that Ingmar Bergman’s were Sweden, bleakness, and death. It was an offhand joke, but it turns out you can see for yourself this week: as part of its ongoing 10th anniversary celebrations, Amherst Cinema is screening the director’s classic The Seventh Seal (in which a knight challenges Death to a game of chess) on Wednesday night at 7pm. We joke about Bergman sometimes when we need an example of a typical “foreign film,” but the only reason it works as a gag is because his films really did bring a sea change to American shores. If you don’t know his work, you owe it to yourself to experience it on the big screen. If you do know his work, you don’t need me to tell you what to do.•
Jack Brown can be reached at cinemadope@gmail.com.
Images: Miles Ahead, courtesy Sony Classics
