Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

“They don't care nothin' about me. All they want is my voice. Well, I done learned that. And they gonna treat me the way I wanna be treated, no matter how much it hurt them.”

Filmology Rating: 3.5 out of 4

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom is a recent film released on Netflix. However, it is most identified with being Chadwick Boseman's last performance.

Based on the stageplay and set in Chicago, 1927, tensions rise between Ma Rainey (Viola Davis), her ambitious horn player (Chadwick Boseman) and the white management determined to control the uncontrollable "Mother of the Blues".

There are several things you notice right away when watching 'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom,' but what I noticed immediately was how electrifying Chadwick Boseman was. He and Viola Davis are tremendous and possibly give career-best performances.

The performances really do drive this film because there is a thirty-five minute scene near the beginning of the film and it's so gripping and wonderful that at the end of the scene, you find yourself already halfway through the film when the plot hasn't even been revealed yet.

All this film is about is recording one song, but what's so outstanding about the film is that you really don't care because the performances are so brilliant.

This is the kind of film that pits a small group of characters in one place and allows the drama to gradually come out. We initially see Ma Rainey as this needy, bossy, one-dimensional person, but we later realize her motivations of not letting white people take advantage of her because that's all they want is her voice; because she makes the white man money.

Then we have Chadwick Boseman as Levee who has similar feelings towards white people, but he wants to do things in the band his way, but Ma Rainey is sick of being told what to do. So these two along with the two white characters creates this stageplay of a film.

And that really is the only problem with the film is its stagey feeling. It doesn't feel like a film, but rather a play like how every character is overly charismatic and walking around the space.

The way dialogue is delivered is also so natural how everyone talks over each other or sometimes they refer to themselves in third person; it all makes these characters feel real.

I strongly believe Chadwick Boseman may win an Oscar of some kind because not only is it a celebration of his career in acting, but it's also a great year of performances from him from this to 'Da 5 Bloods.' It's also not just that he recently passed, but he truly is phenomenal in this film.

The kind of charisma and range Boseman has in this film reminded me of someone like Bill Robinson and how giddy of a performer he was.

It's hard to say anything negative about 'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom' because it is just so entertaining due to the performances though the lack of trajectory may be a negative for some.

Rating: See It

-Nolan