The Guardian
A detonation of pure acting firepower is what's on offer in this movie version of August Wilson's 1982 stage play.
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Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
In a Golden Globe-winning role, the late Chadwick Boseman stars alongside Oscar winner Viola Davis in this adaptation of the play by Pulitzer Prize winner August Wilson (Fences), following the Mother of the Blues and her band as they take on tensions within the white-dominated music industry and blaze trails in 1927 Chicago. Produced by Denzel Washington and directed by Emmy nominee George C Wolfe (The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks).
Best Costume Design and Best Make Up & Hair at the 2021 Academy Awards and BAFTAs. Best Actor (Boseman) at the 2021 Golden Globes.
202094 minsUSA
DramaMusicHistorical
- Director:
- George C. Wolfe ('The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks', 'You're Not You', 'Nights in Rodanthe')
- Writer:
- Ruben Santiago-Hudson
- Cast:
- Viola DavisChadwick BosemanGlynn TurmanColman DomingoTaylour PaigeJonny CoyneMichael Potts
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom / Reviews
IndieWire
A stagey chamber piece with occasional flashes of musical intensity and thematic depth to spare.
Full reviewA.V. Club
For whatever else it may be, the movie is a reverent tribute to both the medium of theater and Wilson's indelible impact on it.
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Hollywood Reporter
[W]atching actors of this caliber lose themselves in characters of such aching humanity is ample reward, with Boseman's towering work standing as a testament to a blazing talent lost too soon.
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Empire Magazine
Boseman and Davis deliver superb performances in this timeless meditation on Black art, and those who would exploit it.
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Entertainment Weekly
It's Boseman, though, in his final appearance on screen, who makes both the bitter and the sweet of the story sing: a pointed arrow of hurt and hope and untapped fury, heartbreakingly alive in every scene.
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BBC
Wolfe finds the right balance between letting Wilson's trademark monologues flow and shooting them in a cinematic way.
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IGN
While the film boasts a strong ensemble, all of whom give fantastic performances, especially Davis, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom is Boseman's movie from beginning to end. He shows his full range.
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Time Out
Chadwick Boseman's presence shouldn't endure just because it's his final on-screen role, but because of how darn good he is.
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Slant Magazine
Chadwick Boseman meticulously charts the breakdown of a man discovering, within the mirages of 1920s blackness, that pursuit and escape, fleeing from and running toward, are inextricably intertwined.
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