Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

If you enjoy reading my Spoiler-Free reviews, please follow my blog @ https://www.msbreviews.com Usually, at the end of each year, I prepare my watchlist for the next twelve months. Obviously, no matter how many movies I add to the list, I know dozens of more films will be announced and released throughout the year. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom is one of them. I didn’t know a thing about this flick, but it received t…

Excellent! <em>'Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom'</em> features great performances from Viola Davis (Ma) and Chadwick Boseman (Levee). Their characters aren't flawless, yet Davis and Boseman make them each a fascinating watch; the latter has one film-stealing scene. They both truly give their all. The other cast members, spearheaded by Colman Domingo (Cutler), are good as well. The plot is riveting and very well told, …

As a film adaptation, 'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom' isn't so much a movie as it is a play with a few more options; a showcase for its actors rather than a cinematic experience. But the play it adapts is very good, one of my favourites of Wilson's. It's from an era of theatre in the United States that dealt heavily with the casualties of the American Dream, where you're sold a bill of goods but they'll never come through…

**Viola Davis as the Queen of the Blues** The events of the film take place on the 1st day in the year 1927, and one place is a recording studio for music albums. We start with the preparation of the studio for the blues legend Marini, accompanied by her close entourage, and a team of musicians led by the ambitious young man, Levee, who has a new and open perspective on the relationship of black artists to the rec…

Set on a hot and humid afternoon in Chicago, this tells the tale of rising temperatures at a recording session by the eponymous blues singer (Viola Davis). She's already an huge success but is having difficulry asserting ownership over her own material and ensuring she gets paid properly for her music. Meantime, in another room her assembled backing musicians are increasingly treading on eggshells around each other a…