Miles Ahead

2016 • 100 minutes

About this movie

Miles Ahead is a wildly entertaining exploration of one of 20th century music's creative geniuses, Miles Davis, featuring a career defining performance by Oscar® nominee Don Cheadle in the title role. In the midst of a prolific career at the forefront of modern jazz, Miles Davis (Cheadle) virtually disappears from public view for a period of five years in the late 1970s, his musical voice stifled and numbed by drugs and pain medications. Dave Braden (Ewan McGregor), a wily music reporter, forces his way into Davis' life and, over the next couple of days, the two men unwittingly embark on a wild and sometimes harrowing adventure to recover a stolen tape of the musician's latest compositions. Plagued by years of regret and loss, Davis flirts with annihilation until he once again finds salvation in his art.

Ratings and reviews

Knowing only vaguely of Miles Davis' personal life, I'm not sure how accurate the story laid out is, but the performances, particularly Cheadle's hit the right notes, and linger to accentuate the narrative. The star/director gets deep into character, even co-writing some of the music used, and takes viewers into many unexpected artistic turns & twists. Don Cheadle really brings the enraged & enigmatic sides of Miles Davis' prickly personality to life, while creating a tableau of tawdry tales to riff on.

Another case of a jazz musicians drug use being glorified. Really made Miles out to be quite a nut, maybe he was. For me it's his music that is important, I would have liked to see a focus more in line with that... It's entertainment... I guess.

Dr Gregory hated this movie. He knew Mr Davis, there was no mention of his playing at Juliart or his trend setting fashion. Don Cheadle says that he was forced to use a particular writer due to budget constraints.