Based on August Wilson's stage play.
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom is set in a hothouse atmosphere of a Chicago recording studio on one summer's day in 1927.
Ma Rainey (Viola Davis) a highly regarded blues singer arrives late to the studio. She makes demands which irritates the white studio executive.
Already at the studio is her backing band which includes the brash overconfident trumpet player Levee (Chadwick Boseman) who constantly clashes with his bandmates.
Levee dreams of writing his own songs and having his own band. He has had some sort of a promise from the same white studio executive about his more modern songs.
The film is stagebound and does not really open up. This was similar to Fences the Wilson play that Denzel Washington directed.
It is a contrast of two characters. The volatile Levee, he has dreams of a brighter future and a tragic past. He describes to his bandmates how his mother was gang raped by some white men. He later upsets them by blaspheming. Levee thinks he can get one up on the white man with his own compositions but he is in for a surprise.
Meanwhile Ma Rainey knows better because of her experiences. She can make demands knowing that she can have her own way until she records her songs and signs a release. After which she loses control until the next time she is needed to record a tune.
There is an undercurrent of tragedy in the screenplay. Levee is man who is lashing out against the world because of his pent up anger. One push too far could send him over the edge.
This was Boseman's last movie before his untimely death from cancer. He received an Oscar nomination and became a sentimental favourite to win. It was a good performance but to me it was not Oscar worthy.
The reason was because the movie was too much like a filmed stage play. Ultimately the film suffers because of this restraint.
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom is set in a hothouse atmosphere of a Chicago recording studio on one summer's day in 1927.
Ma Rainey (Viola Davis) a highly regarded blues singer arrives late to the studio. She makes demands which irritates the white studio executive.
Already at the studio is her backing band which includes the brash overconfident trumpet player Levee (Chadwick Boseman) who constantly clashes with his bandmates.
Levee dreams of writing his own songs and having his own band. He has had some sort of a promise from the same white studio executive about his more modern songs.
The film is stagebound and does not really open up. This was similar to Fences the Wilson play that Denzel Washington directed.
It is a contrast of two characters. The volatile Levee, he has dreams of a brighter future and a tragic past. He describes to his bandmates how his mother was gang raped by some white men. He later upsets them by blaspheming. Levee thinks he can get one up on the white man with his own compositions but he is in for a surprise.
Meanwhile Ma Rainey knows better because of her experiences. She can make demands knowing that she can have her own way until she records her songs and signs a release. After which she loses control until the next time she is needed to record a tune.
There is an undercurrent of tragedy in the screenplay. Levee is man who is lashing out against the world because of his pent up anger. One push too far could send him over the edge.
This was Boseman's last movie before his untimely death from cancer. He received an Oscar nomination and became a sentimental favourite to win. It was a good performance but to me it was not Oscar worthy.
The reason was because the movie was too much like a filmed stage play. Ultimately the film suffers because of this restraint.