As busy I get from time to time, I find that I can't see every movie under the sun, leaving my friends and colleagues to fill in the blanks for me. As poetically as I think I wax about movies on this website as a wannabe critic, there are other experts out there. Sometimes, it inspires me to see the movie too and get back to being my circle's go-to movie guy. Sometimes, they save me $9 and you 800+ words of blathering. In a new review series, I'm opening my site to friend submissions for guest movie reviews.
TODAY’S CRITIC: Lafronda Stumn
Lafronda Stumn is a student at Madisonville Community College and intends to graduate with an Associate's degree in Associate of the Arts. She plans on earning a Bachelors Degree in Motion Picture Studies and English at Wright State University. Her favorite Directors are Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, and Spike Lee, and her favorite actors are Al Pacino, Denzel Washington, Meryl Streep, and Halle Berry. Lafronda contacted this page looking for a place to get published and I enjoy giving people that very kind of opportunity. This is her 23nd guest review for Every Movie Has a Lesson. Welcome as always, Lafronda!
HER REVIEW: Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Chadwick Boseman passed away in August after a four-year battle with colon cancer. Director George C. Wolfe didn't notice any illness while filming. Denzel Washington, the producer of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom didn't know of his illness either. Washington went on to say the Boseman had the right to keep his illness a secret, which is understandable considering the publicity would have made him weaker and feebler than he already was.
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom stars Boseman and an arrogant trumpeter named Levee Green. Levee was asked by Ma Rainey's white producers to record a session of one song of hers for an record release. Ma Rainey is an hour late after an altercation with a police officer, where her white manager gets her out of that pickle.
Rounding out the cast of musicians are the pianist Toledo (Glynn Turman), trombone and guitarist Cutler (Colman Domingo), and double bass player Slow Drag (Michael Potts). Later on, Ma Rainey played by Viola Davis characters brings along her stammering nephew Sylvester (Dusan Brown) to sing the intro to her song. Also in tow, her younger lesbian lover Dussie Mae (Taylor Paige) has eyes for Levee.
Levee wants to dominate the recording session. The head of her record company tries to reason with Ma to let Levee take the lead on his trumpet but to no avail. Ma is an assertive woman and despite the film taking place in Chicago in 1927, Ma will stand up for herself to her injustice. She is even bold to be a lover to a younger Dussie when gay relationships were frowned upon back then. This film is about who will win the war in the recording studio between Levee and Ma Rainey and how who reigns supreme on the hot day of July, complete with Ma requesting to drink several Coke soft drinks so she can perform.
There are many great scenes in this movie, including Ma's altercation with the policeman who wants to arrest her. Davis's character has a great monologue about her manager and recording studio head trying to use her as a lady of the evening rather than seeing her as an equal. Ma’s defending using her nephew to sing the intro, despite the vocal problem by Sylvester.
Levee gives a devastating dialogue about when he was eight years old when he saw his mother attacked by strangers. Another outstanding verbal prose by Levee by Cutler discusses religion in a heated debate. Toledo argues with Levee early in the film as Levee urges his senior bandmates to stand up to the injustices black people face with racism and Jim Crow laws.
The direction is strong by George C. Wolfe in his third feature film. I didn't sense the staginess of this film, as opposed to Denzel Washington directing Fences four years earlier. The costumes of Ann Roth and the production design of Mark Ricker add an authenticity in look and ambiance. Davis and Boseman give great powerful performances. They are two people who will stop at nothing to get their way in that one afternoon. The recording session aftermath leads to a tragic incident, affecting characters’ lives forever.
The cinematography by Tobias A. Schliesser is hypnotic in dark and golden hues of the characters, all the way to the glistering sweat of Ma Rainey. She is a plus-size woman, in a time with no air conditioning let alone fans, conveying the urgency to have her way in the recording session and some comfort drinking one long bottle of Coke after another. Lastly, Domingo and Turman give great supporting performances, especially Turman, who conveys a sense of sadness and loneliness of a man who perseveres despite being a black man in a blatantly racist society. The only flaw is the lip-synching of Davis singing Ma Rainey’s song being a little off but overall. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom is one of the best films of the 2020-2021 season.
CONCLUSION
Thank you again, Lafronda! You are welcome anytime. Friends, if you see a movie that I don't see and want to be featured on my website, hit up my website's Facebook page and you can be my next GUEST CRITIC!
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