[7.2/10] *Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom* explores tons of divisions between folks. Old school vs. new school. Men of faith vs. non-believers. And unsurprisingly, black vs. white. But the deepest divide, or at least the most tragic, comes between artists who know where their power lies and those who don’t.

The former are led by the eponymous Ma Rainey, a booming-voiced virtuoso who acts as though she’s above this recording gig, makes umpteen demands (some of which are even reasonable), threatens to walk out on multiple occasions, and never passes up an opportunity to throw her weight around. The immediate intuition is to take her as a prima donna, one either too oblivious to the needs of others to care about anyone but herself, or someone who actually enjoys making others squirm at her behest.

But as the film wears on, and with one monologue in particular, it becomes clear that Rainey is not a diva for diva’s sake. Rather, she’s someone who knows exactly what her value is -- her ability to sing like nobody’s business -- and the second she gives that away, folks like her doting white manager Irv will no longer treat her like a star; they’ll treat her like someone beneath them because of the color of her skin. So she holds onto that power as long as possible, gets everything she’s due before giving them what they want, so that nobody takes advantage of her or robs her of that power without recompense.

On the other end of the spectrum is Levee, a young trumpet player and aspiring songwriter himself who dreams of forming his own band and recording his own music. Despite his big dreams and grand plans, he turns over his sheet music to Irv’s erstwhile partner, Mr. Sturdyvant, with the expectation that this white man will make good on his promise to let Levee record them. Of course it’s a canard. Mr. Sturdyvant pays the young fool a pittance for the fruits of his artistic layers, denies him credit or the opportunity to perform, and to add insult to injury, records the music with an all-white band.

Levee is powerless, without the clout or the savvy of Ma Rainey. But he’s angry, bitter, and so projects his rage and frustration onto poor Toledo, a harmless philosophizing piano player whose only crime is the misfortune of being there when a young man done wrong by life has just watched his dreams be stolen from him. It’s a miserable parable, about attitude coming from a place of knowing where you stand, and tragedy coming from a combination of naivete and injustice.

It also should have probably stayed a play. You don’t need to see the credit “Based on the play by August Wilson” to know that this story started its life on the stage. The film feels unbelievably stagey, with 95% of it taking place in two rooms, with long scenes and a raft of monologues and speeches in lieu of narrative progression. There’s room for all kinds of movies out there, but outside of a few cool framings -- Levee listening to Cutler’s story about Rev. Gates, him gazing up at another space where he’s trapped when finally breaking through a metal door, and a little flash and flair in the opening number -- *Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom* rarely takes advantage of the cinematic form.

That said, it’s assuredly an actor’s movie. The long back-and-forths and straightforward cinematography give the performers nowhere to hide, which means they have to bring their A-games to make the film work. With that burden, Viola Davis brings her A++++ game. She is volcanic here, imbuing Ma Rainey with a caustic firmness in so many things, but giving the viewer glimpses of the humanity and method underneath it. She commands the screen at every turn, and her performance could single-handedly justify the film.

The supporting players offer strong work as well. Colman Domingo’s Cutler bridges the gap between Ma Rainey and Levee, or tries to at least, acting as compelling foil to each of them. Glynn Turman’s Toledo and his winding stories create sympathy and sadness when he meets his unfair end, and his musical poem about society as stew and the people made to be “leftovers” is a highlight. And Jeremy Shamos’s Irv, a frantic, mediating, sycophantic manager, makes an impression in a film with a lot of personalities and good turns from the cast.

Of course, the focus and legacy of the film will undoubtedly be on Chadwick Boseman, a talented performer taken from us too soon, as Levee. And look, Boseman is a pro. He knows how to make Levee obnoxious in his motor-mouthed boasts, how to make him feel dangerous when his dander is up, and how to make him feel like a wounded gazelle when relaying his horrid backstory. But he is doing *a lot* of acting in this, in a way that often feels more performative than real.

Some of that’s understandable. This is a big movie with high volume emotions and lines of dialogue that are much more wirterly than they are natural. Boseman leans into the artifice of the presentation, with long, loping speeches (from everyone, not just Levee) that deliver backstory and exposition in a way few real conversations actually do. That approach can work in the imaginative world of the stage, but with the greater intimacy of film and a seemingly endless array of close-ups, it can sometimes feel too big for the space.

You know what isn’t though? The music. Maxayn Lewis fills in as Ma Rainey’s singing voice, and good heavens, if you can avoid tapping your toes and bobbing along to the rhythms and melodies on offer here, you are made of stronger stuff than I. The characters treat their music as an almost mystical force, as something inherently worth all of this fuss, and *Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom* is one of the rare films that delivers renditions of art that lives up to that billing.

In the film, Ma Rainey herself talks about the power of the blues. She’ll claim the title of its mother when it’s convenient to do so, but she acknowledges it as something that’s always been there, that she’s harnessed from the time she was a little girl. Ma Rainey understands its power, a power that people who don’t know its source can take from you with their fancy dials and slanted systems if you let them. The film that bears her name is not the most cinematic realization of its source material, but it still works as a fable of what is given to the people who truly understand its power, and what is taken from the people who tragically only think they do.

How disappointing! The acting is good, the music is great (although there is very little of it), and it being stagey wouldn't be an issue... if it weren't so poorly written and reactionary.

Ma is portrayed as a complete diva. She is apparently aware that she is being taken advantage of by her agent and the record producers, but instead of, say, trying to negotiate for a better offer (royalties?), demanding that they treat the black studio musicians better, or helping other black musicians get started, she uses her clout for petty things like getting a coke and forcing the studio to use her [spoiler]stuttering nephew[/spoiler]. Not exactly a sympathetic portrayal! "I know they'll stop caring about me as soon as they have the recording, so I'm going to make sure I get my coke first!" :rolling_eyes:

The studio musicians are portrayed as constantly bickering and dissatisfied. The scenes where they seem to enjoy playing music are short and quickly over, then they go back to arguing heatedly about different topics. They never seriously discuss music. These dialogues and monologues cover the usual topics that you would expect (race, religion, etc.), and offer no new insights. It's tragic how cruelly African Americans were treated at that time, and how cruelly they are still treated. But there's nothing in these talky scenes that offers an innovative perspective, rallies people towards progress, or connects the abuses of the past to present conditions.

Worst of all, the difficulty of Ma, Levee, and the others towards the recording studio - their capricious demands, constant arguing, and [spoiler] literal murder [/spoiler] - seem to narratively justify the ultimate and inevitable betrayal. Why wouldn't they [spoiler] record Levee's stolen songs with a white band? Levee's probably in jail, and perhaps the white band would be less demanding and less violent. They could have shown the white band being unreasonable while the producers were deferential towards them, and it might have softened the blow, but they didn't. [/spoiler] I suppose the point is the tragedy, that outbursts caused by the oppression and abuse lead to justifications for more oppression and abuse. At least, this is what the movie seems to suggest, and it's a shame.

There's also definite homophobic subtext here. Ma's affections for Dussie Mae seem almost predatory in the few scenes where they are hinted at, and Dussie is portrayed as apparently only being with Ma for her money and fame, since she [spoiler] sleeps with Levee at the drop of a hat in the studio, and talks about wanting new clothes with Ma [/spoiler]. In other words, there's no indication of sincere love or affection between Ma and Dussie. Dussie, although apparently based on Bessie Smith, seems to have no interest in learning about music. Ma, rather than mentoring her, just yells at her not to flaunt herself and to stay out of the way. Charming.

It is remarkable and sad that the writer took a source of such rich subject matter as Ma Rainey and turned it into this movie.

One of the vicissitudes that the Covid-19 pandemic brought with it was that the cinema had to reinvent itself, and as part of this reinvention, many filmmakers chose to create films based on plays (because obviously the cost is lower, the locations are few - sometimes only one - and not many actors are needed). Ma Rainey's Black Bottom is one of these movies. Viola Davis and Chadwick Boseman give very good performances, Viola is Viola so it's obvious, but Boseman really shone in this film in his portrayal of a wounded musician with aspirations and desires for vengeful triumph. The other nominations it received were for costume design, which is nothing spectacular; makeup and hairstyle, which in Viola's case are very good; and production design, which isn't dazzling either (it's a two-room set, of course the sets are well done). What I did find annoying was that it shows so much that we are watching a play. Where is the cinematographic language? There are many, many plays adapted to the cinema, but it is not about recording the stage of a theater, but about creating a story with the use of cinematographic language, and this film completely fails at that. In other years, I don't think it would have featured in the nominations.

**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 recording studios run by whites, which is a conflicting perspective. Wholly with Ma Rainey's personal vision. This conflict with other conflicts govern the events of this difficult day.

The movie that comes to mind most when you watch this movie is (Fences 2016). The two films are based on two plays by August Wilson. The similarities between the two films can be caught in the general atmosphere of the two films. You will find the theatrical atmosphere in addition to the embodiment of the ambition of the black community, which August Wilson was concerned with embodying in different periods of American history.

Ma Rainey is a violent and cruel character who uses all the tools at her disposal to achieve her goals and clings to all her rights, starting from her money to a bottle of Coca-Cola, while Levee's personality is a little lighter, manipulative, and has a tendency to pride in himself, but he does not find any barrier to fraud to achieve his goals as well. The two characters have goals and have a history.

It is a 100% pivotal movie, with the exception of some songs and some kinetic scenes that are characterized by a theatrical nature that I liked very much, and this is not favored by some, contrary to what I liked about the movie.

The film was filmed to keep pace with a period of time in which it is related to fashion, cars, decoration, and the musical instruments used, and all of these things were implemented with the utmost perfection, and most of these complications were implemented in short scenes. The dialogues were wonderful and effective, and it is strange that it is the least associated with the theatrical atmosphere, and this was evidence of the genius of August Wilson.

The film's handling of sub-themes was also incredibly impressive, reflecting the dynamism of filming studios and the scales and levers of power. Who is the decision-maker and who has the strongest personality in the studio to influence decision-making?

The characters of the film are certainly limited, but they are certainly effective. Everyone, without exception, takes their turn under the spotlight, since we are talking about the stage. But the longest moments and the most prominent performance between the actors were certainly Viola Davis and Chadwick Boseman. Contemplating Chadwick Boseman's performance, he is certainly a hardworking actor and has done great things despite his young age.

Excellent!

'Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom' 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, with near perfect pacing and an astutely chosen run time; a 2hr film, for example, would've dragged. The end scene is a noteworthy one, also. There is a lot to enjoy here, even for a story filled with sadness and injustice. Highly recommend.