I first got into Miles Davis’s work through discovering his later period music, specifically his 1981 “comeback” album The Man With The Horn, a hybrid of jazz and R&B/pop sounds. His jazz fusion incarnation earned him a wider fan base and also wound up turning off a number of purist jazz critics, but the reclusive icon was never known for sticking to conventional formulas. Birth Of The Cool and Someday My Prince Will Come are definitely great, but most of the time I find myself listening to his 1970s and onward albums like On The Corner, Bitches Brew and Star People.
Miles Ahead, a pet project biopic that’s co-written, produced, directed by and starring Don Cheadle, takes a similar attitude. As opposed to the usual narrative patterns of autobiographical films, he opts instead for an original story. No, make that an action story with fistfights and shootouts. Yep, this is about a fictionalized Miles, set during his late-seventies self-imposed exile. The resulting plot is entertaining but deliberately over the top, so a word to the wise if you’re hoping for a serious analysis of Davis as a master composer.
Miles, who Cheadle eerily resembles and captures his trademark world-weary raspy voice, is short tempered, bullheaded and paranoid, yet oddly charismatic- the quintessential tormented artist. In constant pain from a degenerating hip condition, he wants little to do with an increasingly demanding public. He doesn’t snap from his drug induced stupor until Dave Braden (Ewan McGregor), a fictional interviewer from Rolling Stone magazine, tries to score an interview with the irascible legend. Cheadle directs this scene as if Barden was stepping into a lion’s den, and things get worse for the intrepid reporter when he’s unwittingly dragged alongside Miles in a quest to get back a stolen composition from him.
In-between Davis’s battles against sleazy executive Harper Hamilton (Michael Stuhlbarg, who I should point out is a pretty good villain actor- just as snakelike here as he was as Rothstein on Boardwalk Empire), Cheadle frequently hops between the canonically present mayhem and the prime of Miles’s career in the 1950s. Specifically, he focuses on the relationship between Davis and aspiring dancer Frances Taylor (Emayatzy Corinealdi). As their connection eventually deteriorates due to Miles’s drug use, infidelity, abuse and eventual mental breakdown, it seems like he might actually spark a friendship with Dave…at least until a young promising trumpeter (Keith Stanfield) gives them some crucial information.
You can tell this was a labor of love for Cheadle. Miles Ahead often feels very atmospheric, and Roberto Schaefer’s cinematography helps create a gritty seventies-era exploitation feel for it that’s not unlike some of Ralph Bakshi’s work. And like many of Miles’s more complex songs are carried by his raw talent, Cheadle’s top notch acting abilities are the one thing that keeps Ahead consistently entertaining in spite of how narratively incohesive it feels at times.
Him and Corinealdi have remarkably good chemistry together in their flashback scenes, and their inevitable breakup is appropriately sad as you’ll want to see them stay together. But overall the Miles of this period, though still pretty aloof, is far more comfortable with himself than the broken, gun waving shell he later becomes. And credit goes to Don for being able to play both sides of his personality so well.
However, it’s still a pretty cartoonish personality overall. I reiterate, one should come into this knowing this is a very exaggerated portrayal of Miles, intended more to capture the complicated and often aggressive feel of his music and mythos. To give credit where it’s due, it’s never dull, but there are a few scenes where a younger Miles is more relaxed and meticulously directing his band, finally comfortable in his own element.
I’m not a die-hard purist, but it’s a bit of a shame there wasn’t more depth to the story, which is more about Miles and Dave’s escapades than it is a hard analysis of the “true” Miles. Still, the film’s tagline is “if you’re gonna tell a story, do it with attitude”, so it’s clear Miles Ahead has no interest in doing anything that could be considered a routine biopic. Overall there’s a bit more emphasis on style than substance, but this was something refreshingly different. I still recommend it in spite of its flaws, based on the strength of Cheadle’s performance and unique directing style.