Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

This is a version of a review airing on ABC Radio Ballarat and South West Victoria on February 5, 2021.

(M) ★★★★

Director: George C. Wolfe.

Cast: Viola Davis, Chadwick Boseman, Glynn Turman, Colman Domingo, Michael Potts, Jonny Coyne, Taylour Paige, Jeremy Shamos, Dusan Brown.

"Eat plenty of lasagne, 'til you know that you've had your fill..." 

Chadwick Boseman's death was shocking, sad and tragic. Seeing his mesmerising performance in Ma Rainey's Black Bottom just makes it all the more gutwrenching. Here is a man at the peak of his powers, even as Death's icy grip was pulling him down.

Much like Heath Ledger's turn in The Dark Knight, expect Boseman to pick up a truckload of posthumous acting awards for his turn here. As firecracker trumpeter Levee, Boseman mixes swagger with frailty in this stagey but impressive look at black culture in the 1920s.

Telling a fictionalised account of a recording session, it follows real-life "Mother of the Blues" Ma Rainey (Davis) and her band as they set about laying down some tracks in a Chicago studio, circa 1927. While Ma strives for respect upstairs, downstairs in the band room her quartet rehearses. In between, there's a host of problems for everyone to grapple with, from the interpersonal to the societal.

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom is part of a suite of August Wilson plays producer Denzel Washington is bringing to the screen (he started this project with Fences in 2016). Wolfe does a great job as director, being faithful to the original play and its stage-bound nature while also making the film feel dynamic at the same time. He weaves his camera in between the protagonists, getting the most out of the limited settings.

In fact, there are moments when Wolfe doesn't need to weave quite so much, because in front of his camera he's capturing history. Davis gives an outstanding performance as Ma Rainey, disappearing behind the silver teeth and masses of eye make-up to portray the blues queen as a complex individual trying to progress her art with a level of acute self-awareness that makes for fascinating viewing. It's another outstanding performance from one of the best in the game.

But Boseman's last role is just as impressive; probably more so for what we know now. His trumpet-toting hothead is a bundle of energy at odds with the frail dying man that played him, making the performance all the more stunning. Boseman injects Levee with a haunted quality that underscores his humour, and seesaws him effortless from one emotion to the next.

He gets some top-notch support from the rest of the band - Turman, Domingo and Potts - and the film thrives on what this cast of characters has to say about black culture, racial oppression, and the way black artists of the time were treated. It's a powerful statement that's not overblown, despite being at the core of the film.

Wolfe's direction does justice to Wilson's work, but all this is somewhat overshadowed by the unfortunate moment of history that is passing before the camera - the final performance of the late great Chadwick Boseman, an actor who gave a lot of great performances in a short amount of time. This might just be his best of that too-small bunch.