Michael tells the King of Pop's story, and Brookings will get its shot at the big screen this weekend

If you grew up anywhere near a radio in the last fifty years, you don't need an introduction to Michael Jackson. You need to decide whether you want to spend two and a half hours watching someone else's version of a story you already think you know. That's the real question hanging over “Michael,” which lands at Brookings Cinema 8 this week, and it's worth thinking through before you buy a ticket, especially with $5 Tuesdays making it an easy call for a family outing or a first date that doesn't break the bank.

The angle here isn't just “biopic about famous musician arrives in town.” It's that this is a genuinely strange casting choice turned into a genuinely bold bet: Jaafar Jackson, Michael's own nephew, plays his uncle in his first film role ever. No warm-up in a Marvel movie, no indie darling to build buzz, just straight into the deep end playing arguably the most scrutinized entertainer of the twentieth century. That's the kind of decision a studio makes when they're either supremely confident or a little desperate, and audiences in Brookings will get to judge for themselves which one it turned out to be. Add director Antoine Fuqua, a guy who knows how to stage a big, muscular set piece (think “Training Day,” think “The Equalizer”), and screenwriter John Logan, who's written prestige historical drama before (“Gladiator,” “Hugo”), and you've got a production with real pedigree behind the camera even as it takes a risk in front of it.

So what's the movie actually about? “Michael” traces Jackson's rise from a kid in the Jackson 5 through the years that turned him into the biggest star on the planet, ending around the Bad World Tour in the late 1980s. That's a smart cutoff point, frankly. It lets the film focus on the ascent, the music, the family dynamics, the pressure of being a child performer molded into a global phenomenon, without having to wade into the more contested and painful chapters of his later life. Juliano Valdi plays young Michael, also in his film debut, and the supporting cast is stacked with recognizable faces: Nia Long, Miles Teller, Colman Domingo, Laura Harrier, Mike Myers among them. That's a lot of talent surrounding two first-time actors carrying the emotional weight of the picture.

Here's where I have to be straight with you: there's no critic consensus to lean on yet, no Rotten Tomatoes score or Metacritic number to weigh against each other, so I won't pretend otherwise. What I can offer is a reasoned take on what this project is trying to do and whether it's likely to land. Biopics about beloved, complicated musical icons live or die on two things: does the lead performance disappear into the role, and does the film have the nerve to say something beyond “and then this hit song happened.” Fuqua has never been a director short on visual confidence, and Logan's scripts tend to have structure and ambition even when they overreach. The casting of an actual Jackson family member as Michael is either going to feel like an act of authenticity that no amount of prosthetics or vocal coaching could replicate, or it's going to feel like stunt casting that exposes a first-time actor to an impossible task. Based on the pedigree involved and the wisdom of ending the story before Jackson's most troubled years, I'm cautiously optimistic that this leans toward the former. My honest expectation is a handsomely made, emotionally engaged film that soars during the musical sequences and gets a little wobbly whenever it has to handle the quieter, more dramatically demanding scenes, simply because that's the nature of asking a novice to shoulder that much.

For a Brookings audience, this is worth the trip to Cinema 8 regardless of whether it becomes an awards contender. It's a big, ambitious swing at telling a story most of us think we already know, and there's real value in seeing it attempted with this much craft and family investment behind it.

Facts verified as of August 23, 2026.