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The latest Netflix adaptation of one of Pittsburgh native August Wilson’s plays, the filmed-in-Pittsburgh “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” stars Viola Davis and the late Chadwick Boseman in a period piece that feels relevant and timely.
An almost unrecognizable Davis, jettisoning any semblance of vanity, stars as Ma Rainey, a real historical figure and one of the earliest African-American blues singers to record her performances in the 1920s.
Wilson’s 1982 play it made its Broadway debut in 1984 is set during one of Ma’s last recording sessions where her approach to business (do it Ma’s way) clashes with brash upstart trumpeter Levee (Boseman), who tries to ingratiate himself to the record’s white producer by giving the producer what he wants.
The New Paper
Chadwick Boseman (centre) in Ma Rainey s Black BottomNETFLIX
Dec 17, 2020 09:51 pm
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Los Angeles – Four months after his death shocked the world, trailblazing US actor Chadwick Boseman makes his heartbreaking, hotly Oscar-tipped final film appearance in 1920s blues drama Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.
The Black Panther star portrays feisty, irreverent and ambitious trumper Levee who s struggling to make himself heard in a Chicago music world riddled with racism and exploitation, in the August Wilson play adaptation that premieres on Netflix on Dec 18.
Boseman’s role as the piece’s tragic hero takes on added poignancy by his death at age 43 this August from colon cancer – a diagnosis he never publicly discussed, or even shared with his co-stars during production.
More of Ma’s time and attention is what everybody wants in
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (★★★★☆), even if she’s just going to be gritting her teeth before taking a bite out of their ass. Only one in Ma’s circle among her band, her manager, her nephew, her girlfriend thinks they should be the center of attention, and that’s Levee, her horn player. Full of brass and braggadocio, Levee, portrayed indelibly by Chadwick Boseman in his final onscreen performance, blares constantly about the band he’s gonna put together and the records he’s gonna make. Between his ego and Ma’s, something’s got to give, and we know damn well it won’t be Ma Rainey, played by Viola Davis as coarse, bossy, prickly, and unreasonable. So all we can do is await the inevitable explosion.
Wednesday, 16 Dec 2020 04:49 PM MYT
Chadwick Boseman poses backstage with his Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture award for ‘Black Panther’ at the 50th NAACP Image Awards in Los Angeles, March 30, 2019. Reuters pic
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LOS ANGELES, Dec 16 Four months after his death shocked the world, trailblazing US actor Chadwick Boseman makes his heartbreaking, hotly Oscar-tipped final film appearance in 1920s blues drama
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.
The
Black Panther star portrays a feisty, irreverent horn player struggling to make himself heard in a Chicago music world riddled with racism and exploitation, in the August Wilson play adaptation out Friday on Netflix.
Ma Rainey s Black Bottom The experience of watching the film adaption of
Ma Rainey s Black Bottom is intensely bittersweet. Sweet, because of the privilege of seeing Pittsburgh playwright August Wilson s work put to film by some of the best actors of this generation. Bitter, because we re deprived of the experience of seeing it in theaters, and because one of its stars, Chadwick Boseman, died earlier this year and isn t around for the well-deserved glory this role gives him.
Ma Rainey streaming on Netflix beginning Fri., Dec. 18 is the latest film adaption of a Wilson work. Like
Fences, the 2016 adaptation of his Pittsburgh Cycle play,