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A horror drama movie, The Piano Lesson, is directed by Malcolm Washington and is an adaptation of a play by August Wilson. Starring Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Potts, John David Washington, and others, the movie is set in 1936 Pittsburgh and after the Great Depression.
The film follows the complicated lives and desires of the Charles family, which possesses a family heirloom, a piano, which is a symbol of their enslaved ancestor. As the members try to decide the fate of the piano, the family’s past and supernatural events start to occur.
The movie has themes of family dysfunction, identity, history, and lore. Viewers who would like to see more such movies that weave family drama and complex relations should check the list below for some similar movies.
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Hereditary, A Raisin in the Sun, and other movies like The Piano Lesson
1) Goodnight Mommy - Amazon Prime Video
Directed by Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala, Goodnight Mommy is an Austrian horror drama. The movie is about two twin brothers who await their mother’s return after cosmetic surgery. The young boys slowly begin to realize that their mother is not who she says she is.
Even though the movie’s premise is different than The Piano Lesson, there are some similarities. Both movies mix drama and horror. And both movies investigate complex family dynamics in the face of change.
2) Hereditary - Apple TV+
Directed by Ari Aster, Hereditary is a horror movie that has received much acclaim. Starring Toni Collette, Milly Shapiro, Gabriel Byrne, and others, the movie follows the supernatural occurrences a family experiences after the death of their enigmatic grandmother.
Like The Piano Lesson, the movie Hereditary has plenty of family drama and unsettling horror. Both movies revolve around a central thing—death and piano—to explore dysfunctional family relations and history. In both movies, heredity plays an important role.
3) Shoplifters - Amazon Prime Video
The Japanese drama film Shoplifters is directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda and stars Lily Franky and Sakura Ando. The movie is about a poor family in Tokyo that survives on shoplifting and brings an abused girl into their midst.
However, after a death and their son’s arrest, the family is forced to look inward and catch up with their secrets. Like The Piano Lesson, Shoplifters is a drama about family relations and provides poignant and social commentary.
4) A Raisin in the Sun - Apple TV+
Based on a play by Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun is a drama film directed by Daniel Petrie and starring Sidney Poitier, Roy Glenn, and others. An acclaimed film, it revolves around a black family that gets the opportunity of a $10,000 life insurance check.
But this good news causes complexities as the family tries to decide how to use the money, reflecting upon their individual desires and the reality of a Black family in the 1960s USA. Like The Piano Lesson, the movie A Raisin in the Sun is about a Black family and its dynamics. In both movies, the family grapples with a central motif—an insurance check and the piano.
5) Long Day’s Journey into Night (1962) - Amazon Prime Video
Based on a semi-autobiographical play by Eugene O’Neill, Long Day’s Journey into Night is a drama movie directed by Sidney Lumet and starring Katherine Hepburn, Dean Stockwell, and others. The famous movie is about a family’s struggles with addiction and psychosis.
The movie focuses on four family members who each deal with their own personal troubles that cause dysfunction in the family. The movie has heavy themes of abuse and trauma. Even though it has a different premise than The Piano Lesson, it is a similar drama about family and complicated relations.
6) The Skeleton Twins - Apple TV+
Starring Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader, The Skeleton Twins is a comedy drama directed by Craig Johnson. The movie is about the dysfunctional relationship between two siblings, who are forced to reconcile due to their shared history of tragedies and mental trauma.
As the brother and sister (Hader and Wiig) begin to patch their estranged relations, they reflect upon their family’s past and the present. Unlike The Piano Lesson, The Skeleton Twins uses dark humor. But both movies deal similarly with complicated family histories and heavy themes.
7) The Lost Daughter - Netflix
Directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal and starring Olivia Colman, Dakota Johnson, and others, The Lost Daughter is a psychological drama that is based on a novel by Elena Ferrante. The film received positive reviews and is set in Greece.
During a holiday, a middle-aged professor, Leda (Colman), meets a young woman and her daughter, which opens the floodgates for Leda to reminisce about her own motherhood and fraught relation with her two daughters. Like The Piano Lesson, The Lost Daughter is a drama about complex emotions and the past.
Viewers are welcome to go through the list and choose a movie of their liking.
