by Vincent Abbatecola
Playwright August Wilson achieved his fame with his acclaimed Pittsburgh Cycle, a series of 10 plays that detailed African-American experiences throughout each decade of the twentieth century. The plays opened between 1982 and 2005, with the only two adaptations being Lloyd Richards’ 1995 television film, The Piano Lesson, and Denzel Washington’s feature-film adaptation of Fences in 2016.
We now have the third adaptation of a Wilson play with George C. Wolfe’s, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, which is the only story in the Pittsburgh Cycle that doesn’t take place in that city. With blistering performances and a heartrending narrative, this is a movie made possible by the unwavering strength exhibited by everyone involved.
In 1920s Chicago, blues singer Ma Rainey (Viola Davis) arrives at a studio for an afternoon of recording, all the while being at odds with her manager, Irwin (Jeremy Shamos), and the studio owner, Mel (Jonny Coyne). At the same time, her backup band, which includes trumpeter Levee Green (Chadwick Boseman), pianist Toldeo (Glynn Turman), trombonist Cutler (Colman Domingo), and bassist Slow Drag (Michael Potts), practice in the rehearsal room and face issues of their own.
Davis, who won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role in Fences, is majestic as the “Mother of the Blues.” There’s a vivacity and sternness to Davis’ performance as she shows an individual who makes it known that she won’t be pushed around. She’s a singer who takes her work seriously and demands to be taken just as seriously, exhibiting someone who has her artistic merit in mind and refuses to let anyone tell her to do something different from what she wants. When it comes time for Davis to sing, she brings out Ma Rainey’s dynamic vocals and shows her character’s ability to seize the attention of those around her as she bares her soul in the lyrics. Davis displays the power that Ma Rainey wields both on the stage and behind the scenes, making it a performance to behold.
Boseman, in his final movie role before his passing in August, delivers a performance that overflows with energy and heartbreak. He presents someone who has a passion for succeeding in the arts, and just like Ma Rainey, he’s not apprehensive about showing how persistent he is in achieving his dreams. However, behind his character’s enthusiasm for greatness is a tragic history that he reveals in a pivotal sequence, which is a shattering monologue about a trauma from his past that shaped him into the person he is. It’s a scene that reveals Levee’s palpable fury at what he and his family have suffered, leaving you in awe at the thunderousness of Boseman’s work.
As the other members of the backup band, Turman, Domingo, and Potts are provided with moments to make an impression as they share their own insights. While they have some bits of comical banter throughout the movie, there’s also an understated tension to them as they interact with Levee and try to keep him grounded and not risk losing their work. All four of them work well together on screen, creating a chemistry that makes it easy to detect the artistic bond between their characters.
The screenplay by Ruben Santiago-Hudson follows all of the events of the play, bringing viewers the full impact of Wilson’s text. Despite following the play scene for scene, that’s not a bad thing because each scene carries the same emotional passages that you’ll find in the play and translates them successfully for the film. He doesn’t omit any of the important scenes or add anything superfluous, but instead remains true to the play, trusting what Wilson’s work has to offer from the source material.
Santiago-Hudson does add one thing, which isn’t unnecessary in the slightest, and that’s the first five minutes where we see Ma Rainey performing at a couple of venues. The first is inside a tent down in Georgia, and the scene then skips ahead to a city theater. In these few minutes, we’re given a sense of Ma Rainey’s stage presence, a presence that provides us with a hint of the great things to expect from Davis throughout the rest of the film.
Wolfe’s direction allows for a fine mix of both a cinematic look and a sense of theatricality. He lets his cast go full-on with the power of their performances, making it seem as though you’re watching them perform on a stage just a few feet in front of you. Like pretty much all movies based on plays, this film all comes down to the characters, and it’s clear that Wolfe did everything that he could in order to have his cast bring out the depth and raw emotion that their characters needed.
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom shows its characters taking part in a fight to have their artistic voices heard and be treated with respect amidst racial issues. Whatever words that their voices say, be they spoken or sung, are ones that you can’t ignore.
Grade: A