If you’re looking for a standard biopic, you’ve come to the wrong place with Miles Ahead, Don Cheadle’s passion project about the late great Miles Davis. Rather, what Cheadle’s strives to do with his ambitious film, which he directed, co-wrote and stars in, is to capture the essence of the man as well as affirm his influence on music today and beyond.

Set in 1979, the film finds Davis at a crossroads. He hasn’t released an album in over four years and his label is getting antsy. Davis is either on the verge of a comeback or he’s one foot in the grave. An enterprising journalist, played by Ewan McGregor, gets a tip that a comeback could be in the works and shows up at Davis’ doorstep in hopes of getting the scoop. What ensues is something akin to a buddy comedy. The pair embark on an adventure together that involves guns, drugs, a robbery and a high-speed chase. During their travels, Davis encounters a young trumpet player named Junior who helps stir his stagnating creative juices. During the press conference that followed the press screening at the New York Film Festival earlier today, Cheadle said he took some liberties with the story opting for something more experiential, so its hard to say what is fact and what is fiction. McGregor’s character is conceived as a composite of many journalists who were harassing Davis at that time.

In addition to Davis’ romp with the journalist, the film contains a number of flashbacks that are inventively weaved together and attempt to bring some context to why Davis is in his current state. These interludes mostly deal with Frances Taylor (Emayatzy Corinealdi), his first wife whom he married in 1958 and was with for a number of years. (There’s absolutely no mention of his upbringing or his second wife Betty Mabry to whom he was married from 1968-69.) Obviously haunted by the way he treated Taylor, this series of scenes are presented from Davis’ point of view and show him to be philandering, abusive, and domineering. There is also one flashback that touches on racial profiling and police brutality. It finds Davis being roughed up and arrested outside one of his shows while taking a smoke. While no doubt important, it seemed a little out of place. The film focuses on Davis and Taylor’s relationships in the flashbacks and this scene didn’t seem to fit into that narrative. With so much left out about Davis’ life, we wondered why they decided to include this.

Cheadle has been thinking about playing Davis for close to a decade and his portrayal is mesmerizing. Capturing his raspy voice, mannerisms and swagger, Cheadle truly embodies the legendary artist.

Cheadle closes the film with a concert that is a bit of a head scratch. It places Davis (played by Cheadle) in a current day scenario where he’s sporting a top that says #socialmusic and playing with the likes of Gary Clark Jr., Esperanza Spalding, and Herbie Hancock. During the press conference, Cheadle explained that he wanted to show that Davis’ music isn’t dead and that it’s the underpinning of much of what we hear today. For us, it seemed awkward. Maybe we’re too much of a purist. It would have sat better if Cheadle hadn’t been in costume, or if an actual known trumpet player was channeling the great master. However, what we were really craving after this unusual snapshot was actual footage of Davis performing.

(‘Miles Ahead’ has its world premiere at the New York Film Festival tonight.)