“Ma rainey’s black bottom” film review

ca-times.brightspotcdn.jpg — 80/100 “sweet”

By: Keaton Marcus

Chadwick Boseman’s career ended too early. From 42 to Get on Up and even Marvel’s Black Panther and Avengers: Endgame, he was a total star on the rise. It’s only fair that we got to see him in not one, but two roles this year. Earlier, Spike Lee handed him a supporting role in Da Five Bloods, and his last role happened to be George C. Wolfe’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, which started streaming on Netflix yesterday. Although not his all-time best outing, this is more than a respectful send-off to the terrific talent who’s life was cut short. The film itself is also very, very good and scratches the top ten list of 2020. The performances are all raw and real, the cinematography is top-notch and its imposing message at the end is too powerful to be missed. It is flawed like almost all cinema we see today, suffering a little from its poorly constructed plot and ho-hum storytelling but otherwise this is well worth watching, especially because it’s Boseman’s last performance. This man needs to be nominated for an Oscar, and if it doesn’t happen the Academy should be considered a disgrace. Ok, maybe that’s a little far, but I’d be absolutely pissed.

The movie takes place in 1920s Chicago, when Black people didn’t necessarily have it as bad as slavery, but were still generally discriminated against in the US. We follow Ma Rainey (Viola Davis), a stubborn and uncompromising singer who has recently risen to fame. Basically the entire film takes place in one day at a recording studio without any distractions from the outside world, for better or for worse. She, Levee (Boseman) and their band are attempting to record an album destined to be a massive hit with the help of Irvin (Jeremy Shamos) and Sturdyvant (Jonathon Coyne), two white studio executives with hidden desires to profit off of Black people’s work. During an exhausting and problematic day, the band must rush to finish the music with the two executives counting on them to make it incredible. Yeah, it’s a pretty thin plot, and although that isn’t necessarily a bad thing, the storytelling had to be my least favorite part of the film.

Down here the performances were actually the standout, which is perfectly ok since the lead actor just passed. Speaking of him, Chadwick Boseman does definitely give one of his best performances of his career, almost up there with Black Panther despite not quite reaching that type of height. His role of Levee has a tragic and emotionally resonant character arc that simply sings to the viewer flawlessly. Boseman brings his normal charisma and charms, and scores with the ladies of course. So overall, although I wouldn’t put it at number one, this will live on as his most special performance for future generations of movie lovers. A seemingly unrecognizable Viola Davis portrays Ma Rainey absolutely brilliantly, and her appearance should definitely make for a worthy contender for the Best Makeup and Hairstyling category at the Academy. Not only that, but I would go as far as to nominate her for Best Supporting Actress, as she completely kills it. From the prosthetic breasts and butt, the make-up, to her iconic golden teeth, she absolutely becomes this character and gives a performance that I will remember.

George C. Wolfe is clearly a fan of both theater and August Wilson’s play of this considering the structure. Both an interesting aspect and ultimately a weaker one for me, I was disappointed by the amount of real character moments or development. It seemed like it was just situation after situation, and until that magnificent last scene, I felt close to nothing. Nothing really happened to any of our heroes, and while I do appreciate the different, unique approach, this is cinema, not the theater. Yeah, I understand that I sound like a pretentious and disrespectful critic with no love for bold approaches, but the faithful transition didn’t work for me. Overall, the direction is pretty solid putting it on a platter, and the pacing was nice and fast disregarding my issues. To be honest, besides those flaws, this was an entertaining, interesting and very well-performed biopic and adaptation that plays as an affectionate tribute to a blues legend. It’s streaming on Netflix now and it is an essential watch in these times.

The final opinion is: Although it occasionally suffers from a lack of true cinematic storytelling, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom is an enjoyable, well-acted movie in its own right, and gives the late Chadwick Boseman one last terrific hurrah…$PLURGE IT

Rated: R (for language, mild sex and violence)

Genre: Drama

Runtime: 1 hour 34 minutes

Directed By: George C. Wolfe