Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020)

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Quote

Chicago, 1927. A recording session. Tensions rise between Ma Rainey (Viola Davis), her ambitious horn player (Chadwick Boseman), and the white management determined to control the legendary “Mother of the Blues.”

Based on Pulitzer Prize winner August Wilson's play. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, directed by George C. Wolfe. Starring Viola Davis, Chadwick Boseman, Colman Domingo, Michael Potts, Glynn Turman, Dusan Brown and Taylour Paige.

Coming to Netflix and select theaters on December 18.

Trailer:

 

Edited December 20, 2020 by ElectricBoogaloo

[topanga]

That trailer is amazing. And it makes me sad. RIP, Chadwick. 

[Babalu]

I see Academy Awards! I think Viola is going to get her first Best Actress Oscar. I haven’t paid for streaming rights to a specific movie since the pandemic started (and years before that), but this looks like an exception.

[Empress1]

Viola Davis as Ma gave a master class in knowing your worth. I kept thinking of this interview when Ma was talking about the Coke & how the white producers didn’t care about her as a person, they just wanted her voice. She refused to be dismissed and she knew the game.

We lost a great talent when Chadwick passed. It must have taken so much out of him to curse God, when he was a person of faith and was battling so much (he’s very thin in this movie; now we know why). I’ve read the play so I knew what was coming, but I still gasped at the final part with Toledo. All that pain, starting from when he was just a little boy. August Wilson is so brilliant.

[Spartan Girl]

I loved the look Ma gave that producer who tried to suggest that they just cut out her nephew completely because of his stammer.

Oof, that ending. I knew something bad would happen but not that.

[Empress1]

5 minutes ago, Spartan Girl said:

I loved the look Ma gave that producer who tried to suggest that they just cut out her nephew completely because of his stammer.

Me too. That look said "You better know better than to finish that fucking sentence."

[SeanC]

As an acting showcase, plenty of impressive work here (the two headliners will get most of the discussion, but I've become a big fan of Colman Domingo's work over the last few years, and he delivers a nice supporting turn here).

On a story level, this is obviously very stagey and the film mostly doesn't shy away from this, to mixed returns.  The dialogue scenes that comprise most of the film generally make for solid drama, but I thought the way they filmed the climactic scene was almost bizarrely underselling it.  Conversely, the new scene after the play's final scene was a really effective addition, and a good example of how stage-to-screen adaptations can build on the themes of the source material.

Edited December 19, 2020 by SeanC

[LoveIsJoy]

I can’t quite put my finger on the significance of Chadwick’s character’s fascination with the locked door.  Is it a metaphor that he thinks he’s breaking down a door (getting the opportunity to select and record with his own band), only to burst through and find himself in a smaller room (his hard work and dreams snatched from him)?  But then, once he’s broken into the room, it seems like the character is looking upward towards the open sky.  I don’t get what that part signifies. 

I’ll probably have to watch again and pay closer attention to the details. The acting was excellent all around. 

[khyber]

You really have to accept this as a filmed version of the play. Opened up slightly , but not much.

[LoveIsJoy]

I’ve never seen the play version, so I didn’t  know which parts were added or taken out for movie purposes. My curiosity about the scene was strictly on the film version as a whole.  Just wondering about its significance, even if it’s just an add-on to the play.

[shapeshifter]

Wow.
That ending.
I guess all the talk by Levee and Ma and everyone who were going to do things the way they envisioned, was August Wilson preparing the audience for his chosen fates of the characters, which he knew some would try to change.

 

On 12/20/2020 at 7:58 PM, LoveIsJoy said:

I can’t quite put my finger on the significance of Chadwick’s character’s fascination with the locked door.  Is it a metaphor that he thinks he’s breaking down a door (getting the opportunity to select and record with his own band), only to burst through and find himself in a smaller room (his hard work and dreams snatched from him)?  But then, once he’s broken into the room, it seems like the character is looking upward towards the open sky.  I don’t get what that part signifies. 

I’ll probably have to watch again and pay closer attention to the details. The acting was excellent all around. 

The locked door definitely had the sense of being a Chekhov's door to me too. I was thinking there'd be a fire and they wouldn't be able to escape because the door was sealed by the white man, but it was instead like you described it, " a metaphor that he thinks he’s breaking down a door (getting the opportunity to select and record with his own band), only to burst through and find himself in a smaller room (his hard work and dreams snatched from him)," although being locked did also signify that there was no exit, no escape. 

Ultimately Bozeman's character had no escape from his past, which was symbolic of a collective past.

 

There was a patch of dialogue that made me wonder if they had wanted to do another take but Bozeman's energy reserves wouldn't allow it. 
(I say this as someone who had strong chemotherapy and surgery 5 years ago.  I was supposed to die in 6 months, but being older, the cancer grew slower in me than in Bozeman, so I survived. But I guess with Chadwick Bozeman being younger, he also have more energy reserves. Such a loss.)

[Pearson80]

10 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

There was a patch of dialogue that made me wonder if they had wanted to do another take but Bozeman's energy reserves wouldn't allow it. 
(I say this as someone who had strong chemotherapy and surgery 5 years ago.  I was supposed to die in 6 months, but being older, the cancer grew slower in me than in Bozeman, so I survived. But I guess with Chadwick Bozeman being younger, he also have more energy reserves. Such a loss.)

Actually the director  George Wolfe said that Chadwick was so strong that he hit the door so hard  with his kicks that it broke after the first take they had to rebuild the door to refilm the scenes. He had to reel Chadwick in so  he would not break down the door and he did it again lol. He said that Chadwick never gave any hint that he was ill or physically weak to do his scenes. He put his heart and soul into his art. He was always a committed actor, may he rest in peace!  

Edited December 24, 2020 by Pearson80

[nodorothyparker]

Finally had a chance to see this. It was gorgeous to look at and the acting in this was really top notch but it weirdly made me think of the old Jon Lovett SNL Master Thespian sketch where there was no point that I wasn't extremely aware that I was supposed to be in awe of the fantastically terrific emoting going on. I guess this is what happens when you adapt a play like this because so much of it felt very stagey. The story all but ground to a half at several points so Chadwick Boseman or Viola Davis could deliver an absolutely brutal bit of backstory while Coleman Domingo was doing his damnedest to provide the necessary connective tissue to keep it all together. I loved what Viola Davis was doing, but Ma Rainey still felt somewhat undeveloped as a character.

Didn't the locked door open into what was essentially a closed in air shaft between buildings? I took it as a metaphor for Levee continually thinking he was just on the verge of breaking through only to still end up at what was a dead end for him. The end with the white band recording what felt like a respectably sterile and subdued version of one of the songs he was all but fleeced out of was a nice bit of wordless commentary on how white music would pilfer and then capitalize on black artists' work for mainstream audiences for decades.

[EtheltoTillie]

I was calling it Checkhov’s knife. It is filled with expository set pieces as is so much theater but it made brilliant points. Chadwick Boseman was so compelling as a character at the mercy of the fates. 

[Browncoat]

I got to see this tonight, and, man, does August Wilson write powerful plays!  There was no doubt that this was written originally for the stage and adapted, but I don't think it suffered for that.  

Chadwick Boseman was just remarkable in his role.  It's just so hard to believe he was as sick as he was when he filmed -- so fierce.  We lost a real treasure when he died.  And I think this is the best work I've seen Viola Davis do.  

Agree that the postscript with all the white folks playing Levee's music (and toning it down) was an effective addition.  Even without them showing us that scene, you just knew that's what would happen as soon as Levee gave it over.  Even before he took the money.

I feel like I've seen Glynn Turman in something else, but nothing on his imdb page jumps out at me.  He seemed so familiar, though.

 

[topanga]

14 minutes ago, Browncoat said:

I feel like I've seen Glynn Turman in something else, but nothing on his imdb page jumps out at me.  He seemed so familiar, though.

 

He’s acted a lot. I know him best from A Different World. 

[Browncoat]

7 hours ago, topanga said:

He’s acted a lot. I know him best from A Different World. 

Maybe that’s it  I did watch that show — I’ll check imdb more carefully.  I mostly looked at his recent work.

 

[EtheltoTillie]

8 hours ago, Browncoat said:

I got to see this tonight, and, man, does August Wilson write powerful plays!  There was no doubt that this was written originally for the stage and adapted, but I don't think it suffered for that.  

Chadwick Boseman was just remarkable in his role.  It's just so hard to believe he was as sick as he was when he filmed -- so fierce.  We lost a real treasure when he died.  And I think this is the best work I've seen Viola Davis do.  

Agree that the postscript with all the white folks playing Levee's music (and toning it down) was an effective addition.  Even without them showing us that scene, you just knew that's what would happen as soon as Levee gave it over.  Even before he took the money.

I feel like I've seen Glynn Turman in something else, but nothing on his imdb page jumps out at me.  He seemed so familiar, though.

 

Turman plays Doctor Senator in the latest season of Fargo. Fantastic role even if maybe the weakest season. 

[shapeshifter]

12 hours ago, GussieK said:

Turman plays Doctor Senator in the latest season of Fargo. Fantastic role even if maybe the weakest season. 

Just seeing Glynn Turman in this show and Fargo makes me want to declare that everything's better with Glynn Turman.

Edited January 7, 2021 by shapeshifter

[GodsBeloved]

Glynn Turman was also on The Wire. 

[EtheltoTillie]

5 minutes ago, GodsBeloved said:

Glynn Turman was also on The Wire. 

Completely forgot this. Also down rabbit hole, he was married to Aretha Franklin for a few minutes. 

[Simon Boccanegra]

Turman also has the distinction of being the only African American actor ever to have a part in an Ingmar Bergman film. It was The Serpent's Egg, 1977. Turman told a good story about that in a career retrospective interview some years ago. He had been in a dry spell, hadn't had a gig in a while, and when he got the call, he assumed someone was pranking him. He cursed them out and hung up. He couldn't believe that one of his idols, who generally worked in his native Sweden with all-Scandinavian casts, would have something for him. But The Serpent's Egg was a big-budget thriller in English, produced by Dino de Laurentiis, about the first stirrings of Nazism between the wars. Bergman had seen Turman in Cooley High and wanted him for a supporting role. Fortunately, they tried again by sending him a script in the mail. His big scene, as a jazz musician in a brothel, is one of the highlights.

I thought Ma Rainey's Black Bottom worked better than the film of Fences a few years ago, which I didn't care for, apart from the performances of Davis and Stephen McKinley Henderson. Wilson's is an extreme example of theatrical writing; you never forget it was conceived for the stage. The monologs themselves have a musical quality, like solo arias. But this film was tauter and more effectively edited than Fences. The play is best approached as an imaginative exercise and as social commentary, not really a document of what happened at a particular recording session. But knowing that Ma Rainey was, in 1927, just on the cusp of has-been status, with the vaudeville circuit having collapsed, musical tastes changing and new voices emerging, adds something to the effect. In her silent final scene in the back of the car, I think she sees the big picture. She might win some small battles by tooth and nail, but the war is going to go against her.

Edited January 10, 2021 by Simon Boccanegra

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I see a fair amount of plays so it seemed really obvious to me from the dialogue and pacing that this was originally a play. I didn't mind it but it did make me wonder if non-theater going people would dislike some of the structure and monologuing.

What I loved about Viola Davis in this role was that even before she said a word, she clearly established the character. That wordless walk she took through the hotel and to her car told me everything I needed to know about her. She knew her worth and anyone who didn't see her worth could go to hell. I had a laugh picturing Viola Davis telling the makeup staff, "Can you make me look sweatier?"

Re: the door into the alley - there was a half hour documentary special that autoplayed after the movie. The cast and crew discussed making the movie and they talked about adding that scene with the door and how it was a metaphor for Levee thinking that he was breaking through and realizing he was still at a dead end.

[Simon Boccanegra]

In an early scene, when the guys are first arriving to rehearse, Levee is the only one who expresses any curiosity about that door and where it might lead. The others -- older, less ambitious and/or more worn down -- are paying it no mind. They blow it off when he tries to start a conversation about it.

So I could see from the start where that was going in terms of metaphor, but I thought his continuing attention to it throughout the film, and the ultimate payoff (or non-payoff), played well.

Edited January 22, 2021 by Simon Boccanegra
Missing word.

[Milburn Stone]

No disrespect to the movie or any of the actors in it. Just sayin'...I had the good fortune to read the play a couple of weeks before watching the movie, and the play on the printed page is so much better. I've never seen a stage production of Ma so I can't speak to that, but as a reading experience, the play is superb. The characters are delineated in three dimensions by Wilson's language alone, as well as or better than any actor could achieve, and the emotional experience for me was much deeper. There's also material that was excised in order to bring the film in at ninety minutes; I felt the loss, even though I realized the exigencies involved.

There was a shift in Irvin's character in the film from what Wilson wrote. In the play (at least in its printed edition), Irvin is much more in the musicians' and Ma's corner. Frustrated as he is with Ma, he's her manager and on some level her friend (or at least ally), and her success is his success. True, at the end of the day, he's white, and unprepared to cross the color line completely; but at least in the play, he's caught between the rock and the hard place of Sturdyvant and Ma Rainey. In the film, he simply appears to be Sturdyvant's lackey. 

 

[shapeshifter]

2 hours ago, Milburn Stone said:

There was a shift in Irvin's character in the film from what Wilson wrote. In the play (at least in its printed edition), Irvin is much more in the musicians' and Ma's corner. Frustrated as he is with Ma, he's her manager and on some level her friend (or at least ally), and her success is his success. True, at the end of the day, he's white, and unprepared to cross the color line completely; but at least in the play, he's caught between the rock and the hard place of Sturdyvant and Ma Rainey. In the film, he simply appears to be Sturdyvant's lackey. 

I saw hints of Irvin's respect for Ma and the musicians in the movie, so it doesn't entirely surprise me that the play revealed more of that.

[Growsonwalls]

Just watched this tonight. I thought Chadwick Boseman was incredible as Levee. And actually I thought that was both a blessing and curse. I thought that he was so sympathetic that the whole play/movie ended up being from his POV and every other character remained lightly penciled in, including Viola Davis as Ma Rainey. So whether they meant it or not the play SEEMED like an established singer (Ma) throwing her weight around and abusing Levee and taking away his dignity. Still not sure if that was the point. Of course the white producers were just as guilty of abusing the black musicians' talent but, as I said, Boseman was so heart-rending that storyline just overwhelmed everything else.

Edited January 26, 2021 by Growsonwalls

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Golden Globe nominations!

BEST ACTOR – DRAMA - Chadwick Boseman

BEST ACTRESS – DRAMA - Viola Davis

[ElectricBoogaloo]

SAG Award nomination!

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role - Chadwick Boseman

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role - Viola Davis

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture

Edited February 4, 2021 by ElectricBoogaloo

[ketchuplover]

Was hoping it was about a white woman with a black *SS -the mostest awful thing in the history of ever 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Critics' Choice Award nominations!

Best Picture

Best Actor - Chadwick Boseman

Best Actress - Viola Davis

Best Acting Ensemble

Best Adapted Screenplay - Ruben Santiago-Hudson

Best Production Design - Mark Ricker, Karen O’Hara, Diana Stoughton

Best Costume Design - Ann Roth

Best Hair and Makeup

 

[truthaboutluv]

On 12/19/2020 at 1:42 PM, Spartan Girl said:

Oof, that ending. I knew something bad would happen but not that.

I saw the twist coming about five minutes before it happened. I actually expected him to kill the producer, especially as it was clear right from the start exactly what the guy was doing - taking Levee's music to ultimately pass it on to some white singers. Basically what many of the record companies of the time did to black artists. 

I have to say, I was surprised how little Viola was actually in the film. What she did, she did amazing because Viola is never not amazing. But although the film was called Ma Rainey, this was definitely Levee's story in my opinion. I see why the producers of the film have pivoted to pushing Chadwick in lead versus supporting, as they were doing when awards season started.

My guess is they probably thought at first that he had a better chance for the win in Supporting. But support and buzz, not to mention the obvious sentimentality factor, makes him a strong front runner right now for the Lead Actor award. Levee had so many big moments in the film that allowed Chadwick to truly shine. It's still so sad to think about him being gone but what a way to exit. 

 

Edited February 15, 2021 by truthaboutluv

[Growsonwalls]

On 2/14/2021 at 10:05 PM, truthaboutluv said:

I have to say, I was surprised how little Viola was actually in the film. What she did, she did amazing because Viola is never not amazing. But although the film was called Ma Rainey, this was definitely Levee's story in my opinion. I see why the producers of the film have pivoted to pushing Chadwick in lead versus supporting, as they were doing when awards season started.

My issue with Viola being a lead actress isn't just how little she's on screen. It's that Ma Rainey is never a 3-D character. I feel like a lead performance needs to be that of a 3-D character. At the end of the film we actually know very little about Ma Rainey. Viola Davis is amazing but I think much of the push to make her a lead actress is due to Davis's charisma. Levee is the lead character because he's 3-D. We know his background, his current situation, his motivations, his fears, his hopes, his dreams. The story is shot from his POV. 

[Simon Boccanegra]

Really, the title references not the person but the recording. "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" was an actual 1927 record referencing the black bottom dance, which had been around for a while by that point. The play and film are fictionalized accounts of the day it was recorded. One of Rainey's rivals among the early black recording artists, Ethel Waters, had her own counterpoint record out the same year ("Take Your Black Bottom Outside").  

So Ma Rainey could have been in it far less than this and it could still have had that title.  

On Supporting versus Lead: I think Davis is in MRBB enough to be considered a lead for the Oscars, but what I found odd was that she won Supporting for Fences, in which she seemed to me clearly the co-lead. In fact, when she and Washington appeared in the play on the stage in 2010, she had won the Lead Actress Tony. As good as she was in Fences, it seemed a bit lopsided to put her up against people like Michelle Williams (Manchester by the Sea) and Naomie Harris (Moonlight), who did unforgettable work but had a fraction of the time.

But I get it. Actors submit in the categories in which they have the best chance, and there have been lead winners who were really supporting and vice versa. We've had famous cases such as Anthony Hopkins winning Best Actor for Silence of the Lambs, a 2-hour 18-minute movie in which he's not even in 18 minutes.

[PepSinger]

23 hours ago, Simon Boccanegra said:

On Supporting versus Lead: I think Davis is in MRBB enough to be considered a lead for the Oscars, but what I found odd was that she won Supporting for Fences, in which she seemed to me clearly the co-lead. In fact, when she and Washington appeared in the play on the stage in 2010, she had won the Lead Actress Tony. As good as she was in Fences, it seemed a bit lopsided to put her up against people like Michelle Williams (Manchester by the Sea) and Naomie Harris (Moonlight), who did unforgettable work but had a fraction of the time.

Yeah, Viola Davis really should've been in the Best Actress category for Fences. I know they were nervous about her chances, but I honestly think she would've been Emma Stone. Also, Michelle Williams absolutely deserved to win for Manchester by the Sea. 

[Milburn Stone]

It's interesting that how a play comes off on the page is different from how it may come across in a production, with the various "star power," "charisma," and "name recognition" qualities that particular actors bring. When I read the play, I hadn't seen the film (or any stage production for that matter). It comes off as an ensemble piece, with no character being most important of all, or more important than any other. I'm sure when Whoopi Goldberg played Ma in a revival, she made it seem like a star role, but that's not what August Wilson wrote. I could make just as strong a case that Toledo is the main character as that Levee or Ma is, and that Glynn Turman should be getting Best Actor nods. Or Cutler/Colman Domingo. 

Edited February 17, 2021 by Milburn Stone

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Golden Globe Award!

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture — Drama: Chadwick Boseman

[Empress1]

13 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Golden Globe Award!

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture — Drama: Chadwick Boseman

I didn't watch the awards but I did see his widow's speech, and I thought it was beautiful. 

[Spartan Girl]

6 hours ago, Empress1 said:

I didn't watch the awards but I did see his widow's speech, and I thought it was beautiful. 

She broke my heart. I wish he was there to get the award in person. 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Critics' Choice Award wins!

Best Actor - Chadwick Boseman

Best Costume Design

Best Hair and Makeup

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Producers Guild of America nomination!

Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures

“Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” (Amazon Studios)
Producers: Sacha Baron Cohen, Monica Levinson, Anthony Hines

“Judas and the Black Messiah” (Warner Bros)
Producers: Charles D. King, Ryan Coogler, Shaka King

“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” (Netflix)
Producers: Denzel Washington, Todd Black

“Mank” (Netflix)
Producers: Ceán Chaffin, Eric Roth, Douglas Urbanski

“Minari” (A24)
Producer: Christina Oh

“Nomadland” (Searchlight Pictures)
Producers: Mollye Asher, Dan Janvey, Frances McDormand, Peter Spears, Chloé Zhao

“One Night in Miami” (Amazon Studios)
Producers: Jess Wu Calder, Keith Calder, Jody Klein

“Promising Young Woman” (Focus Features)
Producers: Josey McNamara, Ben Browning, Ashley Fox, Emerald Fennell

“Sound of Metal” (Amazon Studios)
Producers: Bert Hamelinck, Sacha Ben Harroche

“The Trial of the Chicago 7” (Netflix)
Producers: Marc Platt, Stuart Besser

[ElectricBoogaloo]

BAFTA nomination!

LEADING ACTOR
RIZ AHMED Sound of Metal
CHADWICK BOSEMAN Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
ADARSH GOURAV The White Tiger
ANTHONY HOPKINS The Father
MADS MIKKELSEN Another Round
TAHAR RAHIM The Mauritanian

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Oscar nominations!

Best Actor
Riz Ahmed (“Sound of Metal”)
Chadwick Boseman (“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”)
Anthony Hopkins (“The Father”)
Gary Oldman (“Mank”)
Steven Yeun (“Minari”)

Best Actress
Viola Davis (“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”)
Andra Day (“The United States vs. Billie Holiday”)
Vanessa Kirby (“Pieces of a Woman”)
Frances McDormand (“Nomadland”)
Carey Mulligan (“Promising Young Woman”)

Best Costume Design
“Emma”
“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”
“Mank”
“Mulan”
“Pinocchio”

Best Makeup and Hairstyling
“Emma”
“Hillbilly Elegy”
“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”
“Mank”
“Pinocchio”

Best Production Design
“The Father”
“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”
“Mank”
“News of the World”
“Tenet”

[ElectricBoogaloo]

SAG Award wins!

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role - Chadwick Boseman

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role - Viola Davis

[ElectricBoogaloo]

BAFTA award wins!

COSTUME DESIGN: MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM - Ann Roth

MAKE UP & HAIR: MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM - Matiki Anoff, Larry M. Cherry, Sergio Lopez-Rivera, Mia Neal

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Costume Designers Guild Award nomination!

Excellence in Period Film
Emma – Alexandra Byrne
Judas and the Black Messiah – Charlese Antoinette Jones
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom – Ann Roth
Mank – Trish Summerville
One Night in Miami – Francine Jamison-Tanchuck

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Guild of Music Supervisors award!

Best Music Supervision for Film Budgeted Under $25 Million: Dawn Sutter Madell – “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Costume Designers Guild Award win!

Excellence in Period Film
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom – Ann Roth

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Oscar wins!

COSTUME DESIGN: MA RAINEY'S BLACK BOTTOM - Ann Roth

MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING: MA RAINEY'S BLACK BOTTOM - Sergio Lopez-Rivera, Mia Neal and Jamika Wilson

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Acceptance speeches

Mia Neal

Sergio Lopez-Rivera, Jamika Wilson, and Mia Neal