Sturdyvant offers Levee five bucks a song, but he won’t let him record them. And it all happens in one place. Levee and Ma are the live wires, but the rest of the band is more pragmatic, either due to age, wisdom or merely wanting to get in and out as quickly as possible. Chadwick Boseman and Viola Davis shine but fail to rescue this cramped film about racism in 1920s Chicago. MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM (George C. Wolfe). It may feel loose, but from the script to the cast, there’s not an ounce of fat on it. It’s an examination of the plight of African Americans in the 20th century, and, more specifically, the struggles of black musicians in the white recording industry. And he got something for it. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, 2020. Anger, naivety, passion, trauma mixed with blues and you get a perfectly balanced cocktail called 'Ma Rainey's Blck Bottom'. This is the bitter irony of the play, a tragic commentary on the realities facing Black musicians of the day. Adapted from two-time Pulitzer Prize winner August Wilson's play, MA RAINEY'S BLACK BOTTOM celebrates the transformative power of the blues and the artists who refuse to let society's prejudices dictate their worth. Not your average jug band: Chadwick Boseman, in his final performance, with Glynn Turman, Michael Potts, and Colman Domingo. When Chadwick Boseman first appears on screen in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, it feels like a stab in the heart. Review: 'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom' : Pop Culture Happy Hour The excellent new film Ma Rainey's Black Bottom is a story about art. He runs the blogs Big Media Vandalism and Tales of Odienary Madness. Friday 18 December 2020. Our introduction to the singer occurs after someone crashes into her new car. Watching Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom is akin to experiencing an emotional roller-coaster — the varied feelings that alternate between joy, excitement, rage, contempt, fear and sadness. Chadwick Boseman’s last appearance on-screen, the film is a testament of his performance as an actor and of Viola Davis' fiery presence. As Ma, Davis is up to the task of portraying this tempestuous, flamboyant figure; the actress inhabits the singer's body fully, carrying the weight of a hard life lived in her proud gait, the creases of her makeup-smeared face and the weariness in her eyes. This is the same spot where we’ll meet Ma Rainey, though under far more realistic-looking circumstances. "They don't care nothin' about me," she laments matter-of-factly. Bringing all of these performances together are Wolfe's direction, Andrew Mondshein's editing, and Tobias A. Schliessler's cinematography, which succeed at moving Wilson's play onto the screen. “I can smile and say ‘yes, sir’ to whomever I please,” he says in one of the two big speeches screenwriter Ruben Santiago-Hudson adapts from Wilson’s play. It must have been women, cuz I don’t like no mens.” Though Dussie Mae is way too flirty, the band members know she’s off limits. “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” has several, and Hudson keeps the author’s generosity in dispensing them to all the main characters. A fascinating snapshot of a particular time and place in history, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom is a heartbreaking tribute to the fierce and tender talent of Chadwick Boseman. The history of white exploitation of Black culture is by now well-documented, and Wilson's play is part of a canon of art and criticism that has laid these sins bare. Streams from Friday (December 18) on Netflix Canada. Levee has even sweet-talked his way into forcing the band to cover his arrangement of the titular song, despite the success of its original incarnation. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom chugs along at a brisk pace. But it's not really about the Coca-Cola, or being a diva. 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