When it comes to movies centered around real people based on historical setting, the one thing that generally makes each film standout from the other is the distinct stamp that each respective filmmaker places on the stories they're telling. In the case of Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, the 2020 American Drama starring Black Panther's Chadwick Boseman and Viola Davis, the film not only serves as being a powerful and intimate portrayal of the blues legend, but also as a celebration of black culture as a whole. With such an opportunity to tell this specific story being a rare one in Hollywood, the filmmakers rightfully seize the chance to explore the origins of blues music with the films depiction of iconic music figure Ma Rainey, whose generally regarded as being the "mother of blues music". The end result is both an entertaining and powerful story that's exceptionally well-told and masterfully acted with both Viola Davis and Chadwick Boseman delivering Oscar worthy performances. Given that this is the latter's final performance before his passing, he cements himself as being one of the most talented black actors of his generation with a final performance that's bound to garner him a posthumous Oscar win in a style similar to Heath Ledger's posthumous win for The Dark Knight. Ma Rainey's Black Bottom impressively earns its rank as being one of 2020's most well-executed and affecting dramas.
Based on the play written by August Wilson, the plot for Ma Rainey's Black Bottom centers around the rising tensions between Ma Rainey (Viola Davis), her ambitious horn player Levee (Chadwick Boseman), and music producers whose determined to control Ma despite her uncontrollable and demanding ways. The story for Ma Rainey's Black Bottom is one that's well-rounded and predominantly grounded in one setting long enough for audiences to get a firm grip on all the key players in the story. Despite the film boasting an ensemble cast, the heart of the story revolves around the characters of Ma and Levee with them being shown to often clash with each other in regards to the direction they desire to take the music. Although the film contains strong directing and writing, it's the performances of the main cast that bring the story to life and ultimately make it thrive. The film is directed with complete respect and admiration for its main subject with the cinematography, costume, and set-design giving the story an authentic feel that effectively places audiences in 1920's Chicago. The filmmakers behind Ma Rainey's Black Bottom don't just aim to adapt August Wilson's play on the big screen, they aspire and enormously succeed in creating an experience for the audience that's absorbing, insightful, and heartbreaking in showing the birth of the blues era of music, while shedding light on the unspeakable amounts of racism and pain that helped birth it as evidenced by the testimonies of those involved in the story. Ma Rainey's Black Bottom is a rich story that can best be summed up as being a highly effective piece of art that's powered by the presence of its main stars on screen, as well as the devotion its filmmakers in bringing the story to the big screen. Although the story may not fully shed its stage play feel to it, it does a very strong and noteworthy job of transcending the material from play to screen in a form that feels real and is totally believable from star to finish.
As well-told as the story is, the films power comes from its hugely talented ensemble cast who all deliver stellar performances, that showcase strong amounts of emotion. The cast is what brings the story to life and ultimately connects audiences with the characters during the films time period. The best performances in the film automatically come from Viola Davis and Chadwick Boseman with both delivering their most powerful work here. Davis completely transforms into character with her role as Ma Rainey, and is absolutely stunning to watch as both the aggressive and stubborn mother of the blues whose shown to be calling all of the shots and not willing to compromise with her white music producers, nor the rest of the band in regards to altering the songs. Davis not only brings Ma Rainey to life on the screen, but does so in a way which the audience understands her characters behavior and way of thinking. Like Boseman, her Oscar nomination is well-earned with her showing audiences her wide emotional range as an actress. Along with Davis, Chadwick Boseman steals the show with a sensational performance that's not only incredible to watch, but also serves as being heartbreaking for audiences with the realization that they lost a phenomenally talented actor, who was steadily rising in stature. Boseman's performance as Levee covers a wide range of emotions from being charming and funny to both dramatic gripping. When Davis isn't on screen, Boseman commands the story and inspires everyone else to rise to the occasion with their work. Some of his most powerful moments in the film center around him telling the group the story about his mother being raped by a gang of white men with his father secretly plotting revenge. For the audience, the sequence is fantastic to watch due to the way Boseman's character tells the story, along with the emotion shown on his face. Another great moment with his character is him questioning the existence of God with his character demanding where was he when his mother was being raped continuously while begging for mercy. It's those moments, as well as the final ones in the film with his character that make Boseman's performance truly compelling as well as being ultimately something to see in addition to his characters constant clashes with Ma. The rest of the cast give strong and notable performances with Glynn Turman, Colman Domingo, and Michael Potts all shining with their respective screentime as Ma's band members Toledo, Cutler, and Slow Drag. Each actor adds something extra to the film with their performances, and all feel natural together as a Jazz band. Jonny Coyne, Taylour Paige, Jeremy Shamos, and Susan Brown also deliver strong performances as Ma's desperate producer Mel Sturdyvant, who owns the studio with Paige playing Ma's girlfriend Dussie Mae, Shamos as Ma's other producer Irvin whose less tolerant of her attitude, and Brown as Ma's nephew Sylvester. Much of why the film works so well as being a historical period drama, has to do with the sheer effort and talent that its cast put into making their roles work. Everyone brings their A game here with no performance feeling uninspired or lacking in substance. There also appears to be a huge amount of respect directed towards the source material with the everyone wanting to present the best performances possible. That very much appears to be the case here with both Davis and Boseman giving career-defining performances, along with putting their heart and soul into their roles.
Along with the films terrific acting performances, the directing by George C. Wolfe comes across as being well-handled and confident in bringing the story to the big screen. Wolfe succeeds in drawing audiences back to a time period where blues music was still in its creation period, along with the time being tougher for African-Americans to make it in society. Wolfe provides the actors with an enormous amount of freedom in playing their parts, while effectively establishing the films jazzy atmosphere and tone. As far as the films look goes, Wolfe makes every effort to give the films 1927 Chicago setting a look that feels authentic and real. Both the set and costume designs are stellar with the cinematography capturing the expressions of rage, wear, and frustration on both Davis and Boseman's faces. Each actors expression is shown with the lighting being cleverly lit with the films limited settings. The outdoor scenery of the story however, have a near deliberate look of appearing as sets with the films closed spaces inside the studio being extremely muggy and hot with the characters being shown to be sweating, further emphasizing in a symbolic fashion the oppression that African-Americans have experienced throughout their lives in trying to get by. The pacing is slow-burning despite the films 94 minute length, allowing sufficient time for the story to progress, as well as each actor and actress to have their key moments in the film. As far as technical aspects go, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom is well put together with the overall look and feel of the film carrying a 1920's Chicago appearance. In terms of the handling of the actors performances and key dramatic scenes, Wolfe directs the film with a steady hand, allowing for the actors performances to speak for themselves with the progressing of the tension between Ma and Levee's characters until it hits a boiling a point that proves to be compelling for the audience. The music by composer Branford Marsalis is effective in weaving with the films time period, as well as staying within the tradition of blues music while emphasizing the different approach that the films key characters have in regards to both recording and changing the style of the music. The best thing that can be said about George Wolfe's directing of Ma Rainey's Black Bottom is the amount of detail that he puts into making the story appear authentic to its respective era, while doing the original play justice.
The screenplay by Ruben Santiago-Hudson is strong in setting up the clashing approaches and tension in regards to Levee's desire to switch up the music with Ma refusing to do so with her wanting to remain traditional. Though every character in the studio gets their opportunity to shine with a key scene or moment, the bulk of the film explores the personalities of both main characters with the audience getting the opportunity to understand their way of thinking. Some of the themes explored in the films script include the exploitation of black musicians, particularly early ones in Chicago with the script also exploring elements of racism in the 1920's including violence, rape, North vs South, financial hardship, the exploitation of early black musicians in Chicago, same-sex relationships, and financial hardship with the film emphasizing how hard Ma Rainey fought against white oppression and exploitation in building the foundation of blues music in America. Although the story is specifically aimed at exploring the early days of blues music in America, the script makes numerous efforts to dive into the discrimination and oppression that blacks endured at the time as evidenced by Levee's story of his mother being raped with the film also tackling the topic of religion with the latters character questioning whether God actually cares about black people, noting his absence when his mother begged for his intervention during her traumatic experience, or Cutler's story regarding the priest who was forced to dance continuously for a group of racist white men who cornered him and ripped his Bible from his hand. On Ma's side of the story, the script shows how she basically took control of her career and demanded that everything was up to her liking or standards. While audiences may find her attitude to be rather unpleasant, they also understand her reasoning for being untrustworthy of her producers, nor willing to compromise on changes to specific music with Rainey's character stating her belief that black musicians are used and abused for personal financial gain than immediately disregarded afterwards when they're not needed anymore. What the script for Ma Rainey's Black Bottom does so well in terms of its writing is giving each character a soul in which audiences are able to connect with them and ultimately see these individuals as people who are relatable, as well as a product of their times. The film within its main focus of the creation of blues music, shows the hardships as well as the trials and tribulations that African-Americans endured in a society that openly discriminated against them both vocally and systemic. Some of the scripts most powerful moments involve intensely emotional scenes, which include several key characters recollecting stories of racism and trauma that other African-Americans have experienced. What's most significant about these scenes is not just the main characters telling these stories, but the reactions the stories generate from the ones listening with characters either shown as being angry at the injustices other blacks endured, or reserved with conversations being sparked regarding the concern for both the future and fate of the black community. There's much that the film unfolds with its side themes and storylines that make the story appear much more appealing than being just a standard biographical music drama, but an experience that reflects on the past while showing that even talented and famous black figures weren't immune to both the subtle and literal racism they constantly endured in less tolerant times with much of the same issues plaguing the main characters lives continuing to occur in present day.
To say that Ma Rainey's Black Bottom is solely a film about blues music is an understatement. The film is very much about the legacy and work of Ma Rainey, but also serves as being a celebration of black culture as well as a representation of the experience that many African-Americans endured in the stories time period. The story is extremely well-crafted with the writing being on par with the films directing along with the performances being simply fantastic. The film brings out some of the best acting of Davis and Boseman's careers with the rest of the cast making the most of their time on screen, while responding to the performances of both stars. Ultimately, what makes this film as strong as it ends up being is the soulful performances delivered by the main cast with in addition to its thoughtful screenplay that not only does the original August Wilson play justice but presents some hard truths at the core of its story/writing. The film isn't without moments where its theatrical stage format looms over the production of the film from its dialogue-heavy character monologues to its simple stage settings, but the overall presentation is handled so well that audiences easily overlook those minor issues and become engulfed in the experience. Ma Rainey's Black Bottom is a film that has much to say within its plot, and doesn't waste any moment in getting its main points across. It serves as being both a well-acted and powerful experience that should be seen by blues fans, as well as anyone wishing to celebrate black culture or learn more about the hardships and struggles that African-Americans endured during the early 20th century with themes that carry strong relevance to not just the past but the present. As a piece of filmmaking, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom is a gem that will not only entertain but blow audiences away with its presentation of a trailblazing era in blues music. For Boseman, the film works as being a bittersweet yet fitting cap off to a remarkable acting career, that will be celebrated for generations to come with the same being said about his final work.
Final Verdict: Film buffs and fans of both Viola Davis and Chadwick Boseman will find Ma Rainey's Black Bottom to be a solidly entertaining and rewarding experience with hugely affecting performances from its main stars.
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