“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” stars Academy Award-winner Viola Davis and Chadwick Boseman in one of his final film roles before his untimely death earlier this year. Both give award-worthy performances in this inspiring new film.
Tensions and temperatures rise over the course of an afternoon recording session in 1920s Chicago as a band of musicians await trailblazing performer, the legendary “Mother of the Blues,” Ma Rainey (Viola Davis). Late to the session, the fearless, fiery Ma engages in a battle of wills with her white manager and producer over control of her music.
As the band waits in the studio’s claustrophobic rehearsal room, ambitious trumpeter Levee (Chadwick Boseman) — who has an eye for Ma’s girlfriend and is determined to stake his own claim on the music industry — spurs his fellow musicians into an eruption of stories, truths and lies that will forever change the course of their lives.
Adapted from two-time Pulitzer Prize winner August Wilson’s play, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” celebrates the transformative power of the blues and the artists who refuse to let society’s prejudices dictate their worth.