The story is set in a Chicago recording studio one hot afternoon in 1927. Ma Rainey is (and actually was) a Blues diva, with a retinue of musicians, a servile nephew, and a sulky mistress Dussie Mae. The comedy of it starts with the way the title telegraphs Ma Rainey's basic attitude, Kiss my a--.
Two white men who kiss it throughout the film bend to her ever-more-whimsical whims, all the while telling each other "I know how to handle her." So Ma arrives late? Ok. She rejects their play list? Ok. She wants a Coke? Here you go. The men gape from the recording booth while Viola Davis as "Ma" downs that Coke with gulps of ferocious satisfaction. Her nephew gets to record the intro to her song? He stutters? No problem. While they kowtow, her game is, How Low Can You Go?
Comedy thrives on pairings, and there's a second diva in the group, the new trumpeter Levee, played by Chadwick Bozeman. Before Ma Rainey arrives, the dialogue is all trash-talking among the musicians, Levee calling the others a "jug band." The insults fly with laughter, there's singing, there's some playing, and Levee even dances on his brand-new pointy-toed yellow shoes. It's good-natured fun. When we see Levee flirting with Ma Ranee's girlfriend, we can see, complications will ensue.
So far, so comical.
But Ma Rainey's identity comes from her past. She's "mother" or "queen" of the Blues, though she doesn't take credit. "I don’t sing the blues to feel good. The blues is a way of understanding life," she tells her sideman Cutler. Her imperious manner protects her from the indignities inflicted on a black woman. She tells Cutler that, once they've got her voice on record, the white men will just roll over in bed, zip up their pants, and leave her behind.
Viola Davis, ensconced in padding, layers of make-up, and gold teeth, shows us that Ma keeps her guard up all times. We sense bitterness, loneliness, weariness. Only a couple of times -- cuddling her girlfriend and finishing her song -- does Davis let Ma express joy.
Meanwhile Levee's identity is wrapped up in his future. He's a band-leader-to-be, a star soloist-to-be, a composer who writes lying down while his jokes with the band hit home harder than the players are used to.
Bozeman has a winning smile, but in his eyes we see relentless energy with an edge. He feels like he's stepping into his future now, and he's not letting anyone stand in his way. Those yellow pointy shoes make a good symbol for Levee's ambitions.
During breaks in the recording session, Wilson gives his lead characters stories so well-told that they move the action forward, though we only imagine the scenes. These aren't funny, but painful, eerie, horrific. Levee is the last to tell his story, and Bozeman invests it with such passion that we understand what drives Levee and what makes him dangerous when his identity is threatened.
We've been set up from the start for a face-off of the divas. The tragedy is that the showdown is refereed by the white men in the room who can bank more on Ma's past than on Levee's future.
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom comes early in August Wilson's career-long project to dramatize black life in 20th century America, one decade at a time. To give the story its historical context, the film begins with images of Ma Rainey singing for a crowd of black men and women in a tent set up in Georgia woods, then images of the Great Migration north, and more images of Ma Rainey the star on stage in the city.
Denzel Washington, a producer of this film and star of the movie Fences made from another Wilson play, has announced his intention to bring all ten plays to the screen.
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Chadwick Bozeman's final work, is dedicated to him.
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
- Director: George C. Wolfe
- Writers: Ruben Santiago-Hudson (screenplay by), August Wilson (based on the play written by)
- Viola Davis ... Ma Rainey
- Chadwick Boseman ... Levee, trumpet
- Colman Domingo ... Cutler, trombone
- Glynn Turman ... Toledo, the pianist
- Michael Potts ... Slow Drag, the bass player
- Jeremy Shamos ... Irvin, the agent
- Jonny Coyne ... Sturdyvant, studio owner
- Taylour Paige ... Dussie Mae, girl friend
- Dusan Brown ... Sylvester
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