Five women — Frances McDormand, Viola Davis, Sophia Loren, Carey Mulligan and Vanessa Kirby — have risen to the top with performances that go much deeper than those of many
The rip-roaring 20s: Ma Rainey s Black Bottom santafenewmexican.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from santafenewmexican.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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Netflix presents a film directed by George C. Wolfe, written by August Wilson and adapted for the screen by Ruben Santiago-Hudson. Rated R (for language, some sexual content and brief violence). Running time: 94 minutes. Available Friday on Netflix. “Hey, hey, good morning Chicago!” the man says, as much to himself as the ladies and then he dashes across the street because a pair of flashy, mustard-colored shoes has caught his eye, and he WILL be sporting those shoes in a flash. Chadwick Boseman plays the man with a spring in his step and a chip on his shoulder a greatly gifted and braggadocious trumpeter named Levee in “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” which turned out to be Boseman’s final film role before he passed away last August. It is impossible to totally cast aside that tragic reality when watching George C. Wolfe’s Oscar-worthy adaptation of August Wilson’s 1982 play, but when Boseman posthumously receives a best actor nomination, it
Movie Review – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (2020)
Directed by George C. Wolfe.
Starring Viola Davis, Chadwick Boseman, Glynn Turman, Colman Domingo, Jeremy Shamos, Taylour Paige, Jonny Coyne, Michael Potts, and Dusan Brown.
SYNOPSIS:
Chicago, 1927. A recording session. Tensions rise between Ma Rainey, her ambitious horn player, and the white management determined to control the uncontrollable “Mother of the Blues”.
In any other year under any other circumstance,
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom would be yet another well-crafted, brilliantly acted adaptation of a Tony Award-winning play inevitably gunning for Oscars.
But it’s 2020, and while George C. Wolfe’s (
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks) drama was wrapping up post-production in August, star Chadwick Boseman passed away unexpectedly from a cancer battle he chose to keep private.
In a year of losses, something gained: How theater was artfully brought to the screen
Amid the pandemic shutdown, Broadway shows found new life as films.
Meryl Streep and James Corden star in The Prom, director Ryan Murphy s film version of the 2018 Broadway musical.(Melinda Sue Gordon / Netflix)
By Charles McNulty|Los Angeles Times
11:01 AM on Dec 11, 2020 CST
For much of 2020, the theater has been accessible only by screen.
This is like experiencing the cold through a picture of a snowman. It’s obviously not the same thing.
But in a year of manifold losses, plays and musicals have found ways not simply to survive but also to thrive in new mediums. The Broadway productions of