'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom' Review: Royal Blues
Dec. 17, 2020 4:25 pm ET Most of âMa Raineyâs Black Bottom,â a powerful, ultimately shattering screen version of the 1982 August Wilson play, takes place on a single afternoon in 1927, in a seedy Chicago studio where the great blues singer of the title has come to make a record. The Netflix film doesnât pretend to the broad physical scope of a commercial movie and doesnât need to. Wilsonâs words dictate the productionâs form, eloquent words and electrifying soliloquies that resonate in close quarters. Still, the opening sequence plays a thoroughly ci...
Source: wsj.com