Chadwick Boseman’s captivating farewell in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom is a career best
It’s hard to write about Netflix’s new musical drama without reflecting on the passing of its star. The death of Chadwick Boseman was felt around the world, such was his impact in the seven short years since his breakthrough in sporting biopic 42.
While the quality of a movie seems trivial when compared to the loss of a beloved human being, his absence is felt even more keenly given that this final screen appearance may be his finest.
Adapted from the play written by August Wilson (Fences), Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom takes place during one sweltering afternoon in a 1920s Chicago recording studio. The whole building seems to be awaiting the arrival of Ma Rainey (Viola Davis), the ground-breaking ‘Mother of The Blues’, who is travelling to studio for a recording session. In the practice room, the session band rehearse, banter, and tell stories.
Trumpeter Levee (Boseman), who has eyes on stardom, antagonises his bandmates, a situation that only gets more complicated once Ma Rainey arrives.
Largely told in two rooms, the film’s direction initially feels a bit stagey, almost too faithfully transferred from its theatre incarnation. However, director George C Wolfe’s choice is revealed to be an effective device to build tension, taking everyone’s temperature to boiling point as they reflect on racial injustices and hampered dreams.
It’s in this environment that two very special performances come forward. As real-life singer Rainey, Davis transforms herself physically, to the point where she is almost unrecognisable under her makeup and stern expression. She plays the artist as an uncompromising powerhouse, fully aware of her value to the white male producers who will gladly exploit her if she lowers her guard. Grinding proceedings to a halt over demands for a Coke and for everything to be just so, what might be perceived as diva demands is in fact the means by which she has survived. Every second she’s on the screen, it’s hard to take your eyes off of her.
Then of course there’s Boseman as Levee. The fast talker has a passion for expensive shoes, as well as an eye on Dussie Mae (Taylour Paige), Ma’s companion and implied lover. The actor is electric as he bristles against his bandmates’ jibes, darting around the rehearsal room like he’s running out of time. Then, when colleagues Toledo (Glynn Turman) and Slow Drag (Michael Potts) mock him for cosying up to the producers, he explodes into a lengthy dialogue that pushes you back in your chair. He reveals the trauma that continues to haunt Levee, changing him from simply a man with a plan to a broken human battling to make something happen.
Through their performances, the spectre of racial injustice looms over the story. Each of the main characters has their own hardship, characterised in the unsettling white record executives. Jeremy Shamos is the ‘good cop’, trying to appease both Rainey and the recording studio owner at the same time. Jonny Coyne is more sinister as the owner, who through a mixture of racism and greed always seems to keep performers at arm’s length.
During a swift 90-minute running time, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom seems to fit in a lifetime of African American culture and history through characters who lived it. Moments of joy are interwoven with pain, as Chadwick Boseman bids farewell with a performance that sums up the authentic brilliance of his career.
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom is available on Netflix from 18th December