Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

Starring: Viola Davis, Chadwick Boseman, Colman Domingo, Glynn Turman, Michael Potts, Jeremy Shamos, Jonny Coyle, Taylour Paige, Dusan Brown
Directed by: George C. Wolfe
Rating: R
Genre: Drama
2020

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Blues legend Ma Rainey (Viola Davis) clashes with her ambitious horn player (Chadwick Boseman) and her white managers during a recording session in Chicago.

Review:

Tim: After 2016's strong (but just shy of great) Fences, we get another August Wilson play adaptation with Ma Rainey's Black Bottom. Once again, we get a thoroughly enjoyable film featuring strong performances, but it probably also falls just shy of being a great movie.

The film revolves around a blues legend reluctantly taking part in a recording session. The majority of the movie takes place in the recording studio, or in the basement, where the band warms up. It feels like a stage adaptation. I wouldn't say this necessarily hurts the movie, but it does force it to tell a very contained story. The human drama is on full display, so the movie is never boring, but it is narrow in focus.

One of the issues I had is that it was hard to root for anyone in the film. To Wilson's credit, he presents these characters as flawed. It's not a story of heroes, but of complicated human beings. That's quite interesting, but it also somewhat disconnected me from the characters. Ma Rainey is certainly larger than life and it's inspiring to see how she rages against white society by clashing with her white managers. The problem is that she takes this to such extremes that she isn't always sympathetic. I'm not suggesting she shouldn't have pushed hard- I'm sure she had every right to scrape back any respect and power she could. But, watching celebrities act entitled isn't necessarily the most fun thing. The horn player is strongly featured and he's likeable because of his ambition, his tenacity to overcome unimaginable trauma from childhood. However, he's so self-serving, so arrogant that he self-sabotages. The other characters fall into the middle category. So, I do praise the film for its complicated portrayal of characters, but I wish I could have connected more with them. (Side note, I do realize that as a white male living in the 2020s, there may be some cultural barriers that prevented me from doing this. In every movie, regardless of who, when, or what happens, I always try to connect with the characters through our shared humanity. It was just a bit difficult here because of their strong personalities.

Now, while the characters were interesting yet complicated, the cast was outstanding. I certainly expect Academy Award nominations to come. Viola Davis was exceptional in the lead role. She's one of the most underrated actors working today, even though she has an Academy Award (for Best Supporting Actress, in August Wilson's Fences). I would fully expect Davis to get a nomination for Best Actress here. It sounds like this is a hypercompetitive year and I'm not sure her role is large enough to win, but she should be nominated. She transforms into this character, nearly unrecognizable but for Davis' superb talent. Her ability to seem so world weary, yet fiery, not willing to back down, is remarkable. It's a mesmerizing, larger-than-life performance that again reminds us Davis is one of the best actors in Hollywood today.

Chadwick Boseman also deserves his own paragraph. I feel so sad writing these words, about Boseman's final performance. The fact that he hid his deadly cancer diagnosis from so many for so long is something I'll never fully comprehend. For him to deliver a performance of this caliber while he was literally dying is one of the most amazing human stories I've heard. There's a scene in this movie where Boseman recounts the racist, evil acts that he experienced as a child. It's one of the finest acting moments I've ever seen. The range of emotions that Boseman hits, the quiet moments in between, the performance with the camera close up on his face- it's the best scene in the film and one of the most breathtaking performances I've seen. I would unhesitatingly say that even if he was still alive. A posthumous Academy Award nomination is a guarantee and he has a great shot at winning. Even if he doesn't, Boseman ended his Hollywood career with a performance that further breaks your heart. We lost one of the greatest ever far, far, far too early.

The supporting cast is strong, too. I've been a big fan of what Colman Domingo has done on Fear the Walking Dead and I loved seeing him step into this drama role so effortlessly. Domingo is so critical to this film- he's the most straight-laced character and stabilizes the extremes of some of the other cast members. He was excellent here. Glynn Turman and Michael Potts had some wonderful scenes as well, making a lasting impression on the audience. So many of the best moments involve the quick back-and-forth between Boseman, Domingo, Turman, and Potts. Jeremy Shamos added a strong supporting performance. I wasn't a huge fan of Taylour Paige, but she was decent enough in the role. If there's one aspect of this film that rises above the rest, it's the acting.

As much as I enjoyed this movie, it felt like director George C. Wolfe didn't quite craft a great film. He got incredible performances from the cast, but he didn't quite drive the movie to the next level. He has been directing for many years, but hasn't directed all that many things. I think this film would have been better had he had a few more features under his belt. That being said, Wolfe did an outstanding job of bringing this stage adaptation to the screen. I don't mean this to take Wolfe could get an Academy Award nomination for Best Director, and I wouldn't necessarily complain. What he was able to do with his cast is nothing short of extraordinary. The performances are so good that his ability to capture them could certainly bring him a nomination. The only issue is that the movie itself doesn't quite live up to that high. It feels like the kind of movie I'll forget about with time. I'll certainly recall Boseman and Davis' performance, but much of the rest of the movie will get foggy.

One last comment- Ma Rainey's Black Bottom is an exceptionally strong film. I thought a great deal about why I don't quite believe it's great. I felt exactly the same way about Fences. While I also rated that movie a 7.5, it's still currently sitting at #10 in the Top 10 movies of 2016 (the only year in decades that I couldn't find 10 "great" movies). It's possible that I really like (but never love) August Wilson's plays. I tried to separate that out, but it might be a factor. Still, just because I don't think something is great doesn't mean this movie isn't wonderful. It absolutely is and I expect it'll win some Oscar gold.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating- 7.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Fences, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks