Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

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BBFC RatingMa Rainey's Black Bottom

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Certificate15
Year2020
GenreDrama, Music
Director(s)George C. Wolfe
Writer(s)Ruben Santiago-Hudson
LanguageEnglish
CountryUSA
Running Time1HR 33MINS
SeasonMain Programme

Featuring powerhouse performances from Oscar winner Viola Davis and the late Chadwick Boseman in his final role, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom is one of the most breathtaking films of the year.

Chicago, 1927. A recording session. Tensions rise between "Mother of the Blues" Ma Rainey (Davis), ambitious trumpeter Levee (Boseman) and Rainey's white manager and producer. Rainey wants control over her music. Her manager wants to have the control. Levee wants Ma's girlfriend and to stake his own claim on the music industry. When the trumpeter spurs his fellow musicians into an eruption of stories, the truths that are revealed will forever change the course of everyone's lives.

Adapted from two-time Pulitzer Prize winner August Wilson’s play, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom celebrates the transformative power of the blues and the artists who refuse to let society’s prejudices dictate their worth.

"A ferocious opera of passion and pain...Chadwick Boseman [is] glorious." - Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

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