Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020)
12-month trend
12-month trend
Monthly article views
2025-09 to 2026-08
A powerful musical drama follows a legendary blues singer during a tense recording session in 1920s Chicago.
The story
In 1927, Ma Rainey, a formidable and strong-willed blues singer, is contracted by white producers to record an album at Paramount's Recording Studios in Chicago. The session is fraught with tension as she navigates the demands of the production while managing a diverse group of musicians. Among them is the overconfident trumpeter Levee Green, whose presence creates friction within the band. As the recording begins, the group must navigate technical failures, personal conflicts, and the underlying pressures of the era's racial dynamics, all while attempting to capture Ma's powerful voice for the new record.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
In 1927 Chicago, Ma Rainey, a formidable blues singer, prepares to record an album with white producers. The session is plagued by the behavior of Levee Green, an overconfident trumpeter whose personal history of trauma leads to frequent clashes with the other musicians, including the religious Cutler and the steady Slow Drag. Ma demands specific conditions, such as her nephew Sylvester speaking the opening words to ensure his royalties. After a technical failure ruins a take, tensions boil over, leading to a physical confrontation between Cutler and Levee. Following the recording, Ma fires Levee for his reckless attitude. When Levee learns the producer only intended to buy his songs rather than offer him a deal, he suffers a mental breakdown and fatally stabs Toledo in the back. The film ends with Ma storming out as Levee is left alone with Toledo's body, while the producer moves on to record Levee's songs with an all-white band.
- First release year
- 2020
- Runtime (minutes)
- 94
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- George C. Wolfe
- Writers
- Ruben Santiago-Hudson · writer
- Cast and characters
- Viola Davis · Ma Rainey; Chadwick Boseman · Levee Green; Glynn Turman · Toledo; Colman Domingo · Cutler; Michael Potts · Slow Drag; Jonny Coyne · Mel Sturdyvant; Taylour Paige · Dussie Mae; Jeremy Shamos · Irvin
- Genres
- musical drama; biographical drama
- Themes
- racial tension; artistic integrity; identity
- Tone and mood
- tense; dramatic
- Setting
- Chicago, 1927
- Premise and plot tags
- musical; biographical; historical
- Source material / true-story basis
- 1982 play of the same name by August Wilson
- Reception
- Critics praised the performances of Davis, Boseman, and Turman as well as the costume design and production values. It was named one of the best films of 2020 by the AFI.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 97% · scale: percent · review count: 318; Metacritic · score: 87 · scale: 100 · review count: 46
- Awards and nominations
- Academy Award · Costume Design · won; Critics' Choice Movie Award · Nomination · nominated; NAACP Image Award · Outstanding Motion Picture · nominated
- Production trivia
- Chadwick Boseman's final film role.; The film was the most-watched item over its opening weekend on Netflix.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
Your lists
Loading your lists…