Top to Bottom

Based on an acclaimed play and starring two heavy-hitting actors, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom is the sort of film likely to have garnered attention and award buzz under any circumstances. That it sadly became the last performance of actor Chadwick Boseman only heightened the prestige -- and the film's availability on Netflix ensures easy access to those who want to see it.

August Wilson is the playwright behind Ma Rainey's Black Bottom -- and nine other plays in the "Pittsburgh Cycle." The recent adaptation of another of those plays, Fences, left me cold; I thought its deliberate pace didn't transfer well from stage to screen. This story is much more focused in setting, time, and action, and feels much sharper to me for it.

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom is a biting and astute look at institutional racism. It was just as surely so in 1984 when the play was new, and much of the audience no doubt imagined the attitudes it presented to be a "thing of the past." Against the backdrop of Black Lives Matter, in a world where language has evolved to better articulate what's always been there, the story feels very scathing, and very current. The white characters in Ma Rainey's Black Bottom are coldly transactional in checking their overt racism; some of the black characters are keenly aware of this while others are not, and therein lies much the conflict.

This film adaptation does at times still feel like a play, but mostly because it feels like much of August Wilson's dialogue has been transported intact to the screen. Nearly every character has at least one long monologue, a wordy and revealing speech that's quite rare in film today. (You might get one in any given movie. Five? Never.) The camera often works to bridge the gap, though, getting up close and personal with the characters as an audience for live theater never can. This is in many ways an Oscar bait movie, but actors are allowed space to earn those Oscars in unbroken takes where the camera is right up on them to show everything they're feeling.

And make no mistake: Chadwick Boseman will win the Oscar for this. He would have been a nominee for sure even had he not passed away; he is so raw and wild and exposed in the role of Levee Green that you can't help but notice. It's arresting that someone so slight can feel so dangerous, but Boseman absolutely commands each scene he's in. In hindsight, you see how frail he looks here, realize that this was not some Christian Bale-style choice to lose a bunch of weight for a role, and understand the real-world pain he had to have been pushing through to give this performance. It's sad that his many awards will come posthumously, but they will be deserved.

Viola Davis is also strong in the title role. The script sets her up to shine as one of those characters that every other character in a story revolves around, but she still takes that baton and carries it over the finish line. This Oscar winner has a real shot at repeating. It's in fact a top-notch ensemble throughout, though Boseman and Davis do get the showiest roles that will command everyone's attention.

The ending feels perhaps a bit abrupt and stage-y to me, a bit manufactured of a need for some big finish. But despite that, I found this a strong movie and an easy inclusion on my Top Movies of 2020 list. I give Ma Rainey's Black Bottom a B+.