Premise: George C. Wolfe directed this biographical drama about blues singer Ma Rainey. The story is an adaptation of a 1982 August Wilson play.
The movie centers on a day in 1927 when Ma Rainey recorded music with a backing band in Chicago. The musicians trade stories of dreams and struggles being Black in America between attempts to create memorable music in the studio.
Netflix descriptors: “Cerebral,” “emotional” and “music”
"Ma Rainey's Black Bottom"/Netflix
The opening of "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" on Netflix.
How it starts: In a forest at night, crickets chirp and owls hoot. After a few seconds, two people run through the dark woods, panting. A dog barks. The camera zooms in on the runners, two Black men. The men arrive at a gathering place. Text appears: Barnesville, Georgia, 1927. The men join a line of people waiting to enter a tent where Ma Rainey will perform.
Plus a lot of happy, merry holiday programs! Diane Gordon
Dec. 18, 2020, 3:59 p.m. PT
We're halfway through December and that means 2020 is slowly crawling to a close. For your year-end streaming fun, Netflix has a bunch of new holiday shows and other gifts for subscribers. On Christmas Day, you'll want to check out Shonda Rhimes first Netflix series,
Bridgerton, a period drama that's features a hot-looking cast and plenty of intrigue. There's also
Mank, the much-anticipated new film from David Fincher that takes place in 1940s Hollywood and stars Gary Oldman and Amanda Seyfried. And don't forget about the new