Review: "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" does August Wilson proud

by Nathaniel R

"Deep Moanin' Blues" - Ma's introduction

We see black suffering so often in films that the slightest purposeful subversion of that expectation can stun. You could easily mistake the first shot of Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, for instance, for a slave drama. It's a wide shot of a dark quiet forest, crickets chirping, that's punctuated by two men running breathlessly through it, and then the sound of dogs barking as if in pursuit. Two lit torches at the end of the shot, however, don't spell doom but joy. The only escape these men are currently after is communal experience. They're headed for a tent concert where folks are already lined up to pay their coins (a sharp detail) before the camera swoops up to see "Ma" Rainey (Viola Davis) humming those "Deep Moanin' Blues" before a joyful crowd.

Not, mind you, that Ma Rainey's Black Bottom replaces suffering with joy. It just nods to their connection before announcing everything else it has on its mind. Which is quite a lot...

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"Zola" has to be seen to be believed.

Murtada Elfadl reporting from Sundance

Maybe it was the 10th time director Janicza Bravo used a freeze frame to reframe the wild weekend tale she’s telling in Zola, when I knew I loved her movie. The freeze frames until then were used to stop the narrative for a pithy or funny observation by our narrator Zola (Taylour Paige), twitter reply style. But this time we were getting a whole new perspective from another character. It was delectable, hilarious and ghastly. I’d say the same for Zola. 

You all remember the infamous 2015 Twitter thread that started with the classic opening lines: 

Y’all wanna hear a story about why me & this bitch here fell out? It’s kind of long but full of suspense?”

Well they went and made a movie out of it...

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Podcast: The Smackdown Companion

This month's 'Smackdown' panelists: Murtada Elfadl, Chris Feil, Ginny O'Keefe, Robin Write, and Nathaniel R

 

A new season of the Supporting Actress Smackdown is kicking off, with the first installment being this year's Oscar competition. You've already read our blurbs on the five nominated performances and now a more in-depth conversation about those actresses, their films, and a few random asides to other movies and actors. You've already met the panel and here's our conversation in full!

Index (1 hour)
00:01 Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz in The Favourite, Marina de Tavira in Roma
11:00 Regina King in If Beale Street Could Talk
17:30 Amy Adams in Vice and our traditional thought-game of switching the actors around into each other's roles to see what would happen. Plus who is supporting these supporting women?
29:00 Random chatter: Vice, Bohemian Rhapsody, Never Look Away, Green Book
36:00 Other supporting women of the year: Ann Dowd, Sakura Ando, Claire Foy
45:00 Spike Lee's BlacKkKlansman and BP to Black Panther? 
56:00 Where you could read, listen to, and follow the panelists. 

Referenced in the Podcast
• Smackdown blurbs
• This Had Oscar Buzz
• Filmotomy's Marina de Tavira article
• Nathaniel's Rachel Weisz interview

You can listen to the podcast here at the bottom of the post or download from iTunes. Continue the conversations in the comments, won't you? 

Smackdown: Regina, Rachel, Marina, and More...

Links: Hollywood covers, Superbowl ads, Liam Neeson troubles

A big collection of provocative links for you since we haven't had a hot second to look around the web lately...

I had this cover on my wall for at least a couple of years.

This Week's Must Read
• Vanity Fair an oral history of the very first "Hollywood Cover." Love love love this. Especially that you get a full spectrum of non-prudish feeling about the lingerie. Yes, yes, it was sexist and a double standard that the women were like this and the next year the men were fully clothed. On the other hand, can we stop being so sex-negative about people looking sexy or showing skin? It seems we're over correcting of late and everyone is always shaming people for enjoying the sight of human bodies. There is nothing inherently demeaning about being naked or dressing in sexy clothing... unless you don't want to be doing it ! There would be nothing wrong with having a group of men on a magazine cover like this if they were also willing. Linda Fiorentino reveals she volunteered to go topless and Sarah Jessica Parker considered the shoot empowering. Of course not everyone was as comfortable. Sandra Bullock says...

I knew I did not want to be in my underwear. I was like ‘Dear God, give me the longest thing that’s left.’ My little outfit was really tight, it was like one long Spanx. I was a rebel from the ankles down.

Haha. I had forgotten that she was the only one who was barefoot. But even she recalls the day with some fondness, adding... 

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Thirst Trap Party. 13 Sexy Movie Men

Each day a new 'year in review' party. Well, today you get two. Here's a bonus list from the team...  

Tonight, Team Experience (and a few friends of ours from elsewhere) drool on our favorite thrist traps. The entries aren't ordered since we just asked people to choose which man they wanted to cover from a preliminary list of notable big screen men of 2018 with "write-in" choices welcomed.

We should probably note that the most popular choice, and in fact the only choice several different people asked for, was Steven Yeun from Burning  so apparently that multilingual yawn and general air of mystery/superiority really did it for everyone. Curiously no one chose Henry Golding but given his barrier-breaking double duty in both Crazy Rich Asians and A Simple Favor, we dedicate this list to him.

Let's take the men in random order. Y'all ready for this?

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