Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Don Cheadle, Ewan McGregor, Michael Stuhlbarg, Emayatzy Corinealdi, Keith Stanfield, Christina Karis, Nina milow, Austin Lyon, Theron Brown, Jeffrey Grover, Joshua Jessen.

Maverick, genius, individual, eccentric and a rebel to the point of sheer musical indulgence; there are many touched by such unconventional thought but few perhaps that typify the very human nature that circles within us all as Miles Davis.

It is in the nature of the biopic to gloss over the lives of such talented individuals, of certain moments in their life but in Miles Ahead, the Jazz man, the social music commentator, is what he is, a beautiful fleeting moment, nearly destroyed by attitude, brought to the very edge of his tether as he fought bravely against race discrimination and Osteoporosis to bring the sounds fighting in his head to the studio and people’s homes.

There are mesmeric performances across the board in the history of cinema, yet in Don Cheadle’s portrayal of Miles Davis magnetism doesn’t come close, charisma a distant second. What Don Cheadle provides is sheer honesty, of lived and breathed in fascination and the spell of allure that music provides in such a role; a role that must not cloud the audience’s minds, that must show warts and all of the man behind the notes. If glossed over, if the relationship with Frances Taylor was given mythic status, then the musician would not be worth being seen as a maverick, would not be seen to be human, sometimes desperate, at times chilling and frightening, but above all, the muse would not be a true reflection of what he inspired others, musically, to be.

Don Cheadle captures every emotion possible, an Oscar winning performance from start to finish and one to whom the notes in Miles Davis’ head can be heard ringing out across the void of his self imposed quarantine and drug addiction.

Fascination can draw you in without your realising, it can have you asking more questions that can ever be provided in a film; such is the draw of Miles Davis even now that the music so delicately primed can lead you down a path of immediate and beautiful discovery. Miles Ahead is to be seen as one of the films of 2016, articulate, groovy and magic, Jazz at its very finest.

Ian D. Hall