Ma Rainey's Black Bottom by August Wilson

'Ma Rainey' was the first Wilson play he ever saw and it hooked him. Screenwriter Santiago-Hudson was in San Diego earlier this year to direct Wilson's 'Jitney' at the Old Globe Theater. But Levee is dealt a particularly cruel hand and the film's final moment stings in a way that makes the story resonate for audiences today. Boseman will at least be well-remembered for his contribution to films that will live on forever. Levee and Boseman are both people filled with passion and talent, and neither one deserved the fate they were handed. In the case of Levee, the character gains an added poignance and tragedy by being the last performance by Boseman who died earlier this year after battling cancer that he had kept secret from the public. Netflix Chadwick Boseman makes his final screen appearance as a musician in the film adaptation of August Wilson's 'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom.' Wolfe makes us feel the oppressive heat at every turn and that only raises the already hot tensions.

It feels like a vibrant and immediate work. Wolfe and written by Ruben Santiago-Hudson, the film version of 'Ma Rainey' feels neither like a filmed stage production nor a play arbitrarily opened up for the screen. She has come north to record for a white record label and there are multiple tensions at play: between her and the white producers between her and Levee among the band members and with Levee himself.ĭirected by George C. She is simply demonstrating her power and control. The film then jumps to a Chicago recording studio where everyone is waiting for Ma Rainey to show up. We see how she fully engages the crowd and controls the stage except for when Levee (Chadwick Boseman in his final screen role) tries to steal the spotlight with some fancy trumpet work. The sequence begins in a tent and transitions to a full-fledged production number on stage. The film sets the tone by showing us Ma Rainey (Viola Davis) in the full glory of her performing a song.

With “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” August Wilson offers a fictional story about a real blues singer in 1927 Chicago (it's the only play in the Pittsburgh Cycle set outside that city).

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom by August Wilson