Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom takes place in a Chicago recording studio in 1927, where the pioneering blues singer known as the Mother of the Blues arrives with her band to cut a record. Her white manager and producer want control over her music and her choices, and she pushes back. While she keeps them waiting, the musicians in the rehearsal room pass the time, among them the trumpeter Levee, who is drawn to Ma's girlfriend and is determined to make his own name in the music business. Tensions build through the session.

The film is an adaptation of August Wilson's 1984 play, directed by George C. Wolfe from a screenplay by Ruben Santiago-Hudson. It is Wolfe's fourth feature, arriving between The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks and Rustin. Viola Davis plays Ma Rainey, with Chadwick Boseman as Levee, Colman Domingo as Cutler, Glynn Turman as Toledo, Michael Potts as Slow Drag and Jeremy Shamos as Irvin. Denzel Washington was among the producers.

The film was released in November 2020 and runs 93 minutes. On IMDb it holds 6.9/10 from roughly 77,000 votes, and on TMDB 6.6/10 from about 1,300 votes, while a critics' rating stands at 8.2/10 across 318 reviews, so reviewers rated it noticeably higher than the viewing public did. Around 21 cast members and 44 crew members are credited.