MA RAINEY'S BLACK BOTTOM

 
This film adaptation of August Wilson's play, MA RAINEY'S BLACK BOTTOM, from Netflix is a must see. Some say Wilson is "the Shakespeare of Black America" but I say he's the Shakespeare of the USA period. Like the many versions of The Bard's plays, different people prefer different directors' and actors' interpretations (who's your favorite Hamlet is a perennial taste-in-acting-techniques game).

And there are those who may quibble with aspects of this production (see Hilton Als's review in last week's New Yorker), but...BUT, from my perspective (despite my own quibbles with some of the direction), the language and the acting are so compelling—and in most instances perfection—nothing else matters. And watching the masterful Chadwick Boseman in his final film role while he and we, but not the other actors, know he is dying in real life is the final UNintended heartbreak of this wrenching work of art.