Premise: George C. Wolfe directed this biographical drama about blues singer Ma Rainey. The story is an adaptation of a 1982 August Wilson play.
The movie centers on a day in 1927 when Ma Rainey recorded music with a backing band in Chicago. The musicians trade stories of dreams and struggles being Black in America between attempts to create memorable music in the studio.
Netflix descriptors: “Cerebral,” “emotional” and “music” Ma Rainey s Black Bottom /Netflix
The opening of Ma Rainey s Black Bottom on Netflix.
How it starts: In a forest at night, crickets chirp and owls hoot. After a few seconds, two people run through the dark woods, panting. A dog barks. The camera zooms in on the runners, two Black men. The men arrive at a gathering place. Text appears: Barnesville, Georgia, 1927. The men join a line of people waiting to enter a tent where Ma Rainey will perform.