Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, based on the play by August Wilson, leaves one of the most lasting impressions this year in cinema. The film is set primarily in a recording studio in Chicago as the band awaits Ma Rainey’s (Viola Davis) arrival. Once Ma arrives, the band attempts to record several songs.
Within just 90 minutes, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom manages to not only deliver stellar performances from Viola Davis and Chadwick Boseman (who steals the show) but the film’s subtle yet powerful commentary on the difficulty of Black artists, and people, to make something of themselves in the late 1920s due to a constant struggle to be appreciated by “the white man,” is central to the film.
As Levy (Chadwick Boseman) wishes to start his own band and record his own songs with the record company in hopes of being just as popular as Ma, the audience is able to witness the internal pain that Levy feels towards the ways of the world while simultaneously being doubted by his fellow band mates. What makes Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom one of the best films this year is how it executes its themes through heavy dialogue between the band, Ma, and the two white recording agents. The film never feels the need to divulge in on screen violence against Black people or display any aggressive language towards them by white people.
The way the film shows the audience how incredibly difficult it was to be a Black man or woman in the 1920s, let alone a musician, without having to display any visual or disturbing content proves how talented director George C. Wolfe and screenwriter Ruben Santiago-Hudson truly are. The music is fantastic as well, where you can’t help but tap your foot along with the band along the way. Between the cinematography, performances, incredible script, and music, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom deserves every standing ovation.
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