Since we are all pretty much stuck inside during the holidays, many of us have flocked to on-line streaming websites to entertain ourselves and especially since we can’t really head to movie theaters. Netflix has an upcoming film called, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom starring two of my favorites Viola Davis and the late Chadwick Boseman. It’s a film about the trailblazing singer and Mother of Blues, Ma Rainey. I never heard of her but boy was it intriguing to watch her story come to life on film! Inside, I share five things I liked about the movie and hope you get to watch it on December 18th, on Netflix such a good flick!
Five Things I Liked About The Movie:
- I learned about the great migration and what was lost when black people left the rural south for the urban north. My grandmother was one of those people and by the age of 12, she and her family moved from Atlanta, Ga to Cleveland, Ohio for work. Now, I am a transplant moving from Cleveland, Ohio and now living in Atlanta, Ga lol.
- I enjoyed the costume designs. Anything vintage or retro related, I enjoy seeing in movies. Costume Designer Ann Roth got a lot of her inspiration for the wardrobe from singer Aretha Franklin. In the movie, she created a rubber suit for Viola and a horse hair wig, wow!
- Let’s talk about Viola Davis and Chad Boseman stellar performance in the film! They both deserve Oscars for sure and their efforts have created a huge buzz!
- Can’t have a movie like this without GREAT music ofcourse! With the exception of Ma Rainey’s original songs, the film’s music was created by renowned saxophonist, composer, bandleader, music historian and Executive Music Producer Branford Marsalis.
- The surprise ending…omg! Wait for it, caught me totally off guard!
Synopsis:
Tensions and temperatures rise over the course of an afternoon recording session in 1920s Chicago as a band of musicians await trailblazing performer, the legendary “Mother of the Blues,” Ma Rainey (Academy Award® winner Viola Davis). Late to the session, the fearless, fiery Ma engages in a battle of wills with her white manager and producer over control of her music. As the band waits in the studio’s claustrophobic rehearsal room, ambitious trumpeter Levee (Chadwick Boseman) — who has an eye for Ma’s girlfriend and is determined to stake his own claim on the music industry — spurs his fellow musicians into an eruption of stories revealing truths that will forever change the course of their lives.
Adapted from two-time Pulitzer Prize winner August Wilson’s play, MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM celebrates the transformative power of the blues and the artists who refuse to let society’s prejudices dictate their worth. Directed by George C. Wolfe and adapted for the screen by Ruben Santiago-Hudson, the film is produced by Fences Oscar® nominees Denzel Washington and Todd Black. Colman Domingo, Glynn Turman, Michael Potts, Taylour Paige and Dusan Brown co-star alongside Grammy® winner Branford Marsalis’ score.
Images courtesy of Netflix
