Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020) on Netflix
Chicago, 1927: blues singer Ma Rainey is late to her recording session while her band waits with the producer. Trumpeter Levee Green hopes to land a record deal of his own.
- Netflix4.2/5
- IMDb6.9/1078,714 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes97%
Trailer
Plot summary
Ma Rainey is a highly regarded blues singer whose white producers have contracted her to record an album in Chicago in 1927. Her manager, Irvin, has booked Paramount's studio, and Toledo, Cutler and Slow Drag of her Georgia Jazz Band arrive on schedule without her, which irritates the producer Mel Sturdyvant. Levee Green, the band's trumpeter, has brought Sturdyvant compositions of his own and hopes for a record deal. The rest of the band considers Levee rude to Ma. Ma reaches the studio an hour late with Dussie Mae and her nephew Sylvester, and argues with Sturdyvant and Irvin over her demands, among them a promised bottle of Coca-Cola.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Viola Davis and Chadwick Boseman both won lead acting awards at the Screen Actors Guild Awards for Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, making them the first African-American actors in history to win in leading categories in the same year; Boseman posthumously won the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Drama.
- Chadwick Boseman died of colon cancer on August 28, 2020, while Ma Rainey's Black Bottom was still in post-production, which made the film his final appearance; it is dedicated to his memory.
