Friday Films: Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

A film screening of Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020); 1 hr. 34 m; Rated R; closed captioning available.

Chicago, 1927. Ma Rainey, the legendary American blues vocalist, is about to record her best-known songs with her hand-picked backing band. In the meantime, the band members K*ll time bantering on a hot summer afternoon while waiting for her in the studio. But tensions rise, painful secrets come to light, and trouble brews as the demanding diva shows up fashionably late for the recording session. Now, insolent ambition, self-assured arrogance, a deep generation gap, and centuries of black oppression create obstacles to capturing Ma's expressive, emotional voice on vinyl. However, the defiant Mother of the Blues knows she is the star of the show and won't be pushed around. After all, it's what Ma says that counts.

"Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” is a celebration of three real-life Black artists and legends. There’s the blues singer, often referred to as the “Mother of the Blues,” whose name and song give the film its title. There’s the author, August Wilson who, inspired by Rainey and the era she found fame in, crafted his 1984 play around her larger-than-life persona. And there’s Chadwick Boseman, taken from us way too soon, who chose this difficult material to play while living with cancer. We’ll never know if Boseman knew this would be his swan song; the fact that it is haunts the viewer, especially during one particular monologue." - Odie Henderson, Roger Ebert

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Host or Publisher Parker Hill Branch - Boston Public Library