Here’s hoping Denzel Washington’s ambition to bring August Wilson’s ten-play Pittsburgh Cycle to the big screen hasn’t stalled at number two. A deal with HBO generated one picture (the Washington-directed Fences) before production moved to Netflix for this vastly superior day-in-the-life of blues architect Gertrude “Ma” Rainey. (It was Rainey who introduced Bessie Smith to the blues. Just ask her.) The year is 1927, a time when a black recording artist must have wielded some kind of clout to have white record producers kowtowing to her every wish. Ma knows they couldn’t give a hoot in hell about the color of her skin; it’s her voice that they covet. Fences amounted to little more than canned-theatre, whereas this George C. Wolfe (Nights in Rodanthe)-directed adaptation thankfully moves beyond the proscenium arch and in the direction of cinema. Other than the performances, the most memorable moments are those that could never have been fulfilled on a stage. Before settling into the Chicago recording studio where much of the action takes place, we open in a tent show with Ma Rainey (Viola Davis) shooting daggers at Levee (Chadwick Boseman), a talented young sideman brimming with self-importance and eager to hog the spotlight. One shot, and the antagonistic dynamic of their relationship is set in stone. With the session finally underway, the sudden presence in mid-tune of a muted record cutter shows everything we need to know about a flaw in the mastering process. And it’s doubtful that the curtain shot — what appears the aptly-named Paul Whiteman Orchestra playing one of Levee’s original compositions — was in the original text. Only a brief unnecessary fling between Levee and Ma’s young lady friend (Taylour Paige) strikes a sour note. Everything you’ve read about the leads is true, but not enough acclaim is being given veteran character actor Glynn Turman’s performance as the film’s dignified voice of conscience. The tragedy of the ending is twofold: the manner in which Wilson chooses to end his play and the realization that this is the painfully abrupt ending to Chadwick Boseman’s career. (2020) — Scott Marks
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