DAVID BIANCULLI, HOST: This is FRESH AIR. The actor Chadwick Boseman died of cancer in August at the age of 43, not long after he finished shooting the movie Ma Rainey s Black Bottom. Now streaming on Netflix, the movie stars Viola Davis as the famous blues singer Ma Rainey and was adapted from August Wilson s play. Our film critic Justin Chang says that Boseman s final screen performance ranks among his very best.
JUSTIN CHANG, BYLINE: One reason Chadwick Boseman was such an extraordinary actor was his ability to command the screen without hogging the spotlight. His presence was so quietly magnetic that even when he played real-life heroes like Jackie Robinson and Thurgood Marshall or fictional ones like King T Challa in Black Panther, he still seemed like the most self-effacing of movie stars. But Boseman could also go big, like when he took on James Brown in the musical biopic Get On Up and gave his most electrifying performance until now.
FAIRFIELD-SUISUN, CALIFORNIA
Why Netflix’s ‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom’ ends with a scene that’s not in the play [Los Angeles Times]
The following story contains spoilers from the movie “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” now streaming on Netflix.
The final frames of Netflix’s “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” adapted from two-time Pulitzer Prize winner August Wilson’s 1982 play, show a dozen or so white men performing in a recording studio. The instrumentalists appear dull and unfeeling; the singer’s delivery is dry. The trumpet solo, meant to be the song’s standout riff, feels particularly hollow, void of charisma. Yet above them the producer nods, pleased with what he hears.
It’s almost time for
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom to debut on Netflix and the highly-anticipated film will likely invite a whole new audience into the world of
August Wilson.
Julius Tennon, co-founder of JuVee Productions to discuss
Giving Voice, a documentary we consider essential viewing if you really want to understand the power and impact of Wilson’s prolific work.
The project recently debuted on Netflix. The film that follows the legacy of Wilson and his annual monologue competition, where thousands of high school students enter to win their chance perform on Broadway was executive produced by Tennon and his wife,
Barack Obama’s list of favorite movies and TV in 2020 has an Alabama tie
Updated Dec 18, 2020;
Like everyone else, we were stuck inside a lot this year, and with streaming further blurring the lines between theatrical movies and television features, I’ve expanded the list to include visual storytelling that I’ve enjoyed this year, regardless of format. pic.twitter.com/a8BS8jDkSs Barack Obama (@BarackObama) December 18, 2020
Former President Barack Obama’s annual list of favorite films and television he watched in a year included at least one Alabama tie that we spotted.
Among other critical darlings like “Nomadland” and Pixar’s “Soul,” Obama highlighted “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” the film about an Alabama blues legend, brought back to life by Oscar-winner Viola Davis.
‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,’ about Alabama blues legend, now on Netflix
Updated Dec 18, 2020;
You can finally stream “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” the long overdue film about blues legend from Alabama, with one of the world’s greatest actresses bringing her back to life on Netflix.
The streamer’s plot description: “Chicago, 1927. A recording session. Tensions rise between Ma Rainey (Viola Davis), her ambitious horn player (Chadwick Boseman), and the white management determined to control the legendary “Mother of the Blues.” Based on Pulitzer Prize winner August Wilson’s play.”
It centers on the fateful recording session in 1927 Chicago and looks to go all out in its production design of the period. Rainey was one of the earliest Black professional blues singers and one of the first ever to record music. While she grew up in Columbus, Ga., the 1900 census indicates she was born in September 1882 in Alabama, and other research shows her birthplace as Russell