Nominated for Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Production Design, Best Hair and Makeup, and Best Costumes 
Ma Rainey (Viola Davis) is a hugely successful blues singer. She didn't get that way from being a pushover. She has no problem firing back at disrespect, whether from her weaselly manager (Jeremy Shamos), the recording studio owner (Jonny Coyne), or her own trumpet player. Levee (Chadwick Boseman) has high ambitions papered over a lot of trauma and sees Ma as his jumping off point to fame and fortune of his own. He thinks Ma is a fading relic of the past. Over the course of one recording session, tensions escalate as disappointments loom.
Okay, so Boseman is pretty much a shoe-in for a posthumous Oscar. I haven't seen Da 5 Bloods yet, but he wasn't nominated for that and the Academy loves to lump performances together. Plus, you know, he was incredibly talented overall, and died tragically early. It would take a fucking ghoul to vote against that. Production Design, Hair and Makeup, and Costumes are longer shots, to be honest. It's set in a single location, the design is pretty minimal, and it's up against all the other period pieces. Viola Davis is a luminous performer, as always, but I think she was overshadowed by Boseman. For me, the standout performance of the film was by Colman Domingo, who played the band manager, Cutler. He was the connective tissue around which the entire film revolved and I'd like to see him get more recognition.
This is an absolutely soul-crushing film to watch. It's slow-paced and it's very talky. It's currently streaming on Netflix.
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