Ma Rainey's Black Bottom is a stunningly intense film. While it centres around the making of a record, it's not the music that makes it shine. It's the performances and dialogue that make it what it is.
Based on the trailer on Netflix, which was the only thing I had seen or heard about this film before seeing it, led me to believe that Ma Rainey's Black Bottom would mostly be about music. However, as soon as the film began, I promptly realized that that would not be the case. And while I did find myself longing for more music, the product that I got instead, was quite good. And that product is one of intensity, tension, and emotion. This film takes place in two locations. One being the recording hall in a recording studio, and the other the practice room in its basement. These two places offer very little on their own and work merely as the place where the characters and their dialogue get to shine. The two main characters, portrayed by Chadwick Boseman and Viola Davis, shine the brightest, giving incredibly provoking and intense performances. And thanks to the limited and cramped locations, the intensity is amplified. The characters feel stuck with each other, even when they'd clearly want to be anywhere else but there.
The story, while simple, lends itself to some brilliant moments. It follows Ma Rainey and the challenges she and her band face while trying to record her latest album. Levee, the trumpet player of the band, doesn't quite see eye to eye with the rest of the band or Ma herself. As personalities and ideologies clash, the conversations and atmosphere heat up. As is quite evident, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom has a fairly simple premise as seen by its story and use of locations. It relies on strong characters with strong personalities and an even stronger script. Luckily, it has them all. The dialogue is simply stunning, and the intensity it is delivered with blew me away. It's simply non-stop. There isn't a moment in this film where I found myself thinking about something else. It kept me engaged from the very start to the very end. And while the conversations between characters, as well as the few musical performances, were good, what really stood out to me, were the monologues delivered, especially, by Boseman. The emotion he conveyed through them, and the complexity of his character that he showed in those few moments of speech, were simply stunning.
While this is a great film for the most part, and while it did keep me engaged, I sometimes struggled to connect with it. All the characters, but especially those of Boseman and Davis, really felt like characters. They didn't feel like real people and, as such, it was obviously clear that I was watching a movie. That isn't a bad thing in and of itself, but in the case of Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, it took me out of what was otherwise a very engaging experience. It is, of course, wholly possible that this is what these people were actually like, and in that case, it is a very personal problem. However, what they ended up feeling like, were over-the-top versions of themselves.
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom ended up being a very refreshing film. It surprised me in almost every way, and for the most part, it did so positively. While I ended up hoping that there had been a bigger emphasis on the music, the intensity and fast-paced dialogue more than made up for it. Chadwick Boseman gives a stunningly powerful performance in what unfortunately ended up being his last film, and he, alongside Viola Davis, make this film as good, and enjoyable, as it is.
Based on the trailer on Netflix, which was the only thing I had seen or heard about this film before seeing it, led me to believe that Ma Rainey's Black Bottom would mostly be about music. However, as soon as the film began, I promptly realized that that would not be the case. And while I did find myself longing for more music, the product that I got instead, was quite good. And that product is one of intensity, tension, and emotion. This film takes place in two locations. One being the recording hall in a recording studio, and the other the practice room in its basement. These two places offer very little on their own and work merely as the place where the characters and their dialogue get to shine. The two main characters, portrayed by Chadwick Boseman and Viola Davis, shine the brightest, giving incredibly provoking and intense performances. And thanks to the limited and cramped locations, the intensity is amplified. The characters feel stuck with each other, even when they'd clearly want to be anywhere else but there.
The story, while simple, lends itself to some brilliant moments. It follows Ma Rainey and the challenges she and her band face while trying to record her latest album. Levee, the trumpet player of the band, doesn't quite see eye to eye with the rest of the band or Ma herself. As personalities and ideologies clash, the conversations and atmosphere heat up. As is quite evident, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom has a fairly simple premise as seen by its story and use of locations. It relies on strong characters with strong personalities and an even stronger script. Luckily, it has them all. The dialogue is simply stunning, and the intensity it is delivered with blew me away. It's simply non-stop. There isn't a moment in this film where I found myself thinking about something else. It kept me engaged from the very start to the very end. And while the conversations between characters, as well as the few musical performances, were good, what really stood out to me, were the monologues delivered, especially, by Boseman. The emotion he conveyed through them, and the complexity of his character that he showed in those few moments of speech, were simply stunning.
While this is a great film for the most part, and while it did keep me engaged, I sometimes struggled to connect with it. All the characters, but especially those of Boseman and Davis, really felt like characters. They didn't feel like real people and, as such, it was obviously clear that I was watching a movie. That isn't a bad thing in and of itself, but in the case of Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, it took me out of what was otherwise a very engaging experience. It is, of course, wholly possible that this is what these people were actually like, and in that case, it is a very personal problem. However, what they ended up feeling like, were over-the-top versions of themselves.
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom ended up being a very refreshing film. It surprised me in almost every way, and for the most part, it did so positively. While I ended up hoping that there had been a bigger emphasis on the music, the intensity and fast-paced dialogue more than made up for it. Chadwick Boseman gives a stunningly powerful performance in what unfortunately ended up being his last film, and he, alongside Viola Davis, make this film as good, and enjoyable, as it is.