Review: Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

Image courtesy of Netflix.

Even if it feels somewhat like a filmed play, Pittsburgh playwright August Wilson's "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" is an exuberant showcase for two highly talented thespians - the great Viola Davis in the titular role and the late Chadwick Boseman, in one of his finest performances, as the suave but troubled horn player Levee. While Denzel Washington's filmed version of "Fences" - which also starred Davis in an Oscar winning performance - gave the material more room to breathe as a movie, the confined quarters in "Ma Rainey" give it a more theatrical feel.

But ultimately, that's OK. Wilson's words and the two lead performances go a long way toward making the film, directed by George C. Wolfe, highly watchable and engrossing. Davis plays somewhat against type as the difficult, high maintenance "Mother of the Blues," considered to be one of the first African American singers to record songs, while Boseman gives the type of performance we've never seen him in before. 

In previous films, Boseman had played iconic figures - Jackie Robinson, James Brown, Black Panther and, in my personal favorite, the mythological sergeant in Spike Lee' "Da 5 Bloods" - but here his portrayal is of a fragile and wounded, but also charming and creative, musician who wants to break away from the back-up band gigs in which he seems to be stuck. During the picture's opening performance, Ma Rainey - used to being the center of attention - seems to give Levee the stink eye when he comes to the front of the stage to improvise on his horn.

Much of the film is centered around Ma Rainey - who has a stuttering nephew and young female lover in tow - joining a group of male back-up musicians - Levee, but also Toledo (Glynn Turman), Cutler (Colman Domingo) and Slow Drag (Michael Potts) - at a studio in Chicago to cut a record. Much to the dismay of Ma Rainey's white manager and the recording studio's white owner, Ma Rainey comes with a list of demands - for example, a recording session is cut short after she realizes that no one picked up the Coca Cola she requested - and the session keeps getting interrupted.

Behind the scenes, Levee has come up with several songs of his own that he wants to show to the recording studio manager in the hopes of breaking out of back-up gigs and starting his own band. As they wait for the session to begin, he and the other three male musicians bicker over everything from religion to how they deal with white people. The stuttering nephew - who Ma Rainey insists must introduce a song on the record - and the younger lover, on whom Levee has his eye, result in more tension in the studio.

As I've mentioned, the film has a little bit of a staged feel - it comes off more as a filmed play than a movie, whereas "Fences" managed to feel a little less so, despite the limited locations in the picture. Regardless, the film is a terrific acting showcase - Davis chews the scenery as the difficult Ma Rainey, a woman who may be a pain in the ass to all who work with her, but this likely has been earned during the hard years she wears on her face from having to be a woman artist in a man's world. 

Boseman's performance is also particularly solid, and is likely to earn him some posthumous awards attention. His work in the picture is a sad reminder of what a great talent the world lost when he died suddenly and shockingly last summer. His work in "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" is a fitting final tribute to his screen charisma and acting ability. Overall, Wolfe's film is a well made, very well acted and engaging adaptation of a work from one of America's greatest storytellers.