Reflections play a big role in Regina King's directorial debut, One Night in Miami... The film is full of mirrors and reflective surfaces, of characters reflecting, and of characters reflecting each other. When we first see Sam Cooke (Leslie Odom Jr.), for example, he has just put on a performance for a coldly indifferent white crowd of upper class types, and has solemnly resigned to drinking alone with himself in his dressing room mirror. Later in the film, both Cassius Clay (Eli Goree) and Jim Brown (Aldis Hodge) will take moments to excuse themselves while in the film's primary Hampton Hotel room location and take long, searing looks at themselves in a bathroom mirror.

In the story adapted from the stage play of the same name, Malcolm X (Kingsley Ben-Adir) gathers Clay and Brown, along with Cooke, under the pretence of a celebration for Clay's recent heavyweight championship win, but he quickly reveals that he has invited no other party guests, wishing instead for the men to use their time together to reflect on their accomplishments. They do, each of them contemplating the impact they have in their respective fields, especially with regards to the civil rights movement. They also reveal critical turning points at which they find themselves, each of them entertaining ideas of personal and professional transition, despite the fact that they have all reached a point of mastery in their fields. Brown foresees an acting career for himself when he leaves the NFL; Clay, soon to become Muhammad Ali, is on the precipice of announcing his allegiance to the Nation of Islam; Cooke, with some prodding from Malcolm, is starting to wonder if he can take a different direction with his music; and Malcolm X is undergoing a schism with Elijah Muhammad, inching closer to forming his own organization. These changes will send shockwaves across America and the globe at large; tectonic shifts in culture as we knew it.

When Malcolm X sees his reflection, it is in the hotel room’s windows; he isn't looking at himself so much as he is peering through or past himself to the external threats that conspire against him — the bigger picture. This is telling, because through this simple device we see that it is Malcolm who is most cognizant of the ripple effect this night will have outside the hotel walls. Malcolm knows exactly what can be accomplished if these men are given the chance to reflect.

But in most other moments depicted, King makes it clear that these men are shut off from the world outside. One Night in Miami... is very much a chamber drama, so rarely do we see characters other than the four men, and rarely do we see other settings. King even holds off on the use of medias like radio and television for adding context. When the men step out of the hotel room to traipse up to the roof, the world they look out over is dark, distant, and ambiguous. On this one night, the changes being considered are just the thoughts of four men immersed in discussion and introspection, sealed in by reflective surfaces and their own points of view. King works with cinematographer Tami Reiker to keep framing tight to compliment this notion, while also making further use of mirrors in creative but un-flashy ways to make her staging most effective. This use of mirrors isn’t boundary shattering, but it is powerful for what it makes us consider.

Film writing is always positing theories on the role of the mirror in cinema. Yes, a mirror can be a conduit for filmmakers arranging frames within frames, playing with doubles, or making impressionistic collages, but film theorists such as Christian Metz and Jean-Louis Baudry have written at length about how cinema is a mirror; how through the film screen, the audience members come to see themselves reflected. One Night in Miami... certainly isn’t the first film to play with mirrors, but it is notable in that it is a film that reflects black experiences with these mirrors. In a medium that is overwrought with depictions of white stories, white political and social issues, and white interpretations of issues external to the white experience, King’s mirror is exemplary because it is a conduit for the black experience (accomplished, might I add, within the still white-dominated Hollywood studio system). And in a world where many black people are still used to being reflected negatively by white media who try to depict them as unfavourable, as evil, or just as “other,” a film like One Night in Miami... is all the more vital and resonant.

The men of One Night in Miami...—the black icons of music, sports, and civil rights—they are very aware of how they are reflected in the eyes of white people. Even in their positions of affluence and influence, they are still forced to reckon with being ignored, subjugated, or exploited. In the opening scenes of King’s film that introduce us to our four subjects, this is made abundantly clear. When Jim Brown visits a family friend on his plantation (Beau Bridges as Mr. Carlton), this friend commends Brown for his recent successes, but then sternly reminds him that his family “[doesn’t] allow n*****s in the house.”

So, even if this film is a chamber drama about four men re-assessing their careers and their lives in private, the subtext always forces them to be thinking externally. The use of mirrors, then, also suggests a flip side to everything considered within the Hampton Hotel room. Thoughts, of course, lead to actions, and actions have consequences. This is what Malcolm wants his brothers to see, and this is why a large portion of King's film centres around Malcolm trying to get Cooke, who arguably has the largest audience and influence, to recognize the force for good in the black community that his actions can be.

Good films often try to interpret the role of the artist; better films look at the role of the artist with regards to how the art reflects and has an impact on the social and political world beyond the frame. Malcolm’s diatribes against Cooke become more and more venomous as he forces the political on Cooke’s art, but it is revealed later that only through mutual respect and admiration does Malcolm try to push Cooke in this way. In the film's conclusion, we see Cooke debut "A Change Is Gonna Come" on Johnny Carson, a significant departure from his usual, more pop-y material, with lyrics that speak directly of the black struggle. The last reflection we get is a more unconventional one: Cooke reflected in the TV screen, one of millions found in homes across America. Malcolm is one of the people watching on the other end, his influence now echoing on a scale more grand than he could ever hope to achieve. He is no longer looking past or through his reflection; in the end, he is looking at his reflection in his brother, and this reflection will be amplified as projection for the world to see. And maybe, just maybe, the world will reflect as well.

One Night in Miami… has received three nominations for the 93rd Academy Awards: Best Supporting Actor (Leslie Odom Jr. as Sam Cooke), Best Adapted Screenplay (Kemp Powers, who has adapted in his own stage play), and Best Original Song (“Speak Now”). It is available to stream now on Amazon Prime.

Oscars 2021 | "One Night in Miami..." and the Reflection Beyond These Walls