Review of Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020) by Cameronw9 — 25 Nov 2020

So i've heard all the praise surrounding this film and the performances so I made sure to see it as soon as possible and I was let down. The film consists of lots of loud dramatic monologing and the fact that it comes from a play is clear. Sure the actors were fine but it was nothing particularly ground-breaking as the reviews make it out to be.

Like Fences it has similar themes and the characters have similar overly dramatic monologs which it seems the people who have seen this have taken as an incredible feat of acting for some reason. However in my opinion it just seemed forced and again too stagy.

I think people are rating this film on obvious tragic factors which do not involve the film itself which is a shame and quite disappointing as they should be judging the film on its merits as they would any other film but that seems to be to much to ask of people currently.

Overall this film is ok, it has highly contrived dramatic speeches and the sets, costume, lighting and the general technical aspects of the film are nice. However it it too heavy handed in its handling of the story and the actors are sometimes guilty of overacting.