Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020)

If you enjoy reading my Spoiler-Free reviews, please follow my blog @ https://www.msbreviews.com Usually, at the end of each year, I prepare my watchlist for the next twelve months. Obviously, no matter how many movies I add to the list, I know dozens of more films will be announced and released throughout the year. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom is one of them. I didn’t know a thing about this flick, but it received the always interesting awards buzz, which turned it into a mandatory viewing before Christmas comes around. I went in knowing only one thing: this is Chadwick Boseman’s (Black Panth…

r96sk

9.0

Mar 1, 2021

Excellent! <em>'Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom'</em> 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…

SWITCH.

6.0

Mar 18, 2021

As a film adaptation, 'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom' isn't so much a movie as it is a play with a few more options; a showcase for its actors rather than a cinematic experience. But the play it adapts is very good, one of my favourites of Wilson's. It's from an era of theatre in the United States that dealt heavily with the casualties of the American Dream, where you're sold a bill of goods but they'll never come through for you and you spend your whole life chasing a phantom. I think those messages are still relevant - if not more so now - than they were when they were originally written. - Jake…