Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (2020) Review

THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

They say that success comes from those who work hard enough but sometimes, people aren’t so lucky.


PLOT


Based on August Wilson’s titular play, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom takes place in 1927 and follows blues singer be contracted her first record with Paramount Records. She is scheduled by her manager Irvin (Jeremy Shamos) to do a recording session in Chicago. She is tasked to work with Georgia Jazz Band members Toledo, Cutler & Slow Drag, but she shows up late with her lady friend Dussie Mae (Taylour Paige) and nephew Sylvester (Dusan Brown). The band also meets trumpeter Levee Green who’s shown some composition to producer Mel Sturdyvant (Jonny Coyne), hoping to get a record deal. When teaser on how he handles talking to white men, he retells how his father was lynched & burned after killing those that gang raped his mother. When Ma arrives, she constantly clashes with Mel by making various demands. She demands a Coca Cola before recording and insists Sylvester to do the album’s intro despite having a stutter, knowing he can receive royalties. In between takes does Ma confide with Cutler that whites are only interested in her voice than her humanity, which he relates to. During a break, Slow Drag catches Levee having sex with Dussie. When getting through the next song do they go through equipment failure and blame Levee for tripping on a wire when previously distracted eyeing Dussie earlier, but it was already damaged in advance. This causes him to argue with Cutler over religion believing God doesn’t care for black people after all they’ve been through. This angers Cutler and he strikes him, but he defends himself by pointing a knife at him. The group does eventually finish the record, but Ma chooses to fire Levee after due to his uncompromising attitude throughout. Green’s luck would further descend when finding out Mel doesn’t want to give him a deal and only buy his songs. In a fit of rage, he kills Toledo over stepping on his shoes and the bandmates watch in horror. As Ma drives away, the film ends with white musicians recording one of Levee’s songs
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THOUGHTS


We’re so used to seeing the kind of stories that are inspiring, but Director George C Wolfe is able to take a step back in adapting something that isn’t that. You’ll likely be floored with the well detailed costumes & makeup design as well as having impressive production design that would put you in an ideal time warp, Wolfe and writer Ruben Santiago-Hudson are able to play it straight in expressing how exploitative it can be for people of color when it comes to any platform in the entertainment industry. In this case, it’s in the music platform and when you feel the need to navigate holding onto your roots & dignity, don’t forget to fight your autonomy as well or you’ll lose yourself with disappointment. This is the point when following two sides of the coin where one knows how to hold their ground and the other doesn’t really. Viola Davis is at her most transformative as Ma and while it is Maxayn Lewis does the singing voice, it doesn’t take away the former is a physical force to be reckoned with. Although some can say she’s shrewd for coming off high maintenance with her requests, she’s fierce when refusing to compromise. She knows people are only interested in her talent and not humanity, so she uses that to her advantage so that she can have that immortal presence everyone else would kill for. When you look back at Levee, the late Chadwick Boseman is his own worst enemy in his posthumously acclaimed performance. I say this because while trying to be naive, he’s more arrogant than he realizes and he lets his temper get the best of him at every given opportunity. With his own trauma, you feel for the guy and get why he gets brash but it doesn’t solve anything in the long run. At the same time, some do relate to his dreams being crushed after trial and tribulation, yet it of course does not excuse any violent outburst. It was so fucked up seeing Toledo be a victim of said outburst because he was a chill guy as portrayed by Glynn Turman, and the same can be said with Michael Potts as Slow Drag. On the other end, Colman Domingo was a standout as Cutler because he was a guy who thought with caution by using religion as his motivation to keep his head up. When he shares the tale of a preacher he knew being humiliated, he uses that as an example on how strong he intends to keep his head up despite whatever obstacles he were to deal with. Sadly, that didn’t inspire Levee to change perspective and it only drove him with more resentment with the world around him. There’s no denying he had consequences upon killing Toledo in his fit of rage and the other tragedy that can come from it is that he won’t be in content knowing his lyrics will be put to good use by others; he won’t be immortal the way Ma would. In short, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom is a bold film for the end of 2020 due to its brutal honesty on how success pays off for the few. If you have Netflix and want to be moved, this’ll do it for you. 
Chadwick, thank you