PROVOKR PICK: MA RAINEY
Chadwick Boseman + Viola Davis
In Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom tensions come to a boiling point for a group of African-American musicians during an afternoon recording session. While the band awaits the arrival of their lead vocalist Ma “Mother of the Blues” Rainey (Viola Davis), ambitious trumpeter Levee (Chadwick Boseman) seizes on the opportunity to try to form his own band by tempting his fellow band members as well as the managers and producers in the recording studio. Outside the rehearsal, Ma Rainey is in a fight of her own. Her lateness to rehearsal is no accident, but a calculated ploy to attempt to gain ownership of her own music from her manager and producer, both of whom are white.
George C. Wolfe (Fires in the Mirror) directed Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom from a script by Ruben Santiago-Hudson, in his first screenwriting credit. It is an adaptation of August Wilson’s 1982 play of the same name. The original Broadway run of the play was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Play a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play in 1985. While it did not win either of those awards, it did win the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best American Play.
With names like Viola Davis and Chadwick Boseman in the leading roles, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom was always destined to be a critical hit, and a big awards contender. And of course, the film has been receiving rave reviews from critics, who have specifically singled out both Davis and Boseman for giving powerhouse performances. Given Boseman’s untimely passing earlier this year from colon cancer, there is a very high chance that he will win the Oscar posthumously for his performance. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom had a limited theatrical release on November 25, 2020 in advance of its Netflix streaming release.
Watch Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom on Netflix starting December 18, 2020.
