MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM

BEST Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
BEST Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
BEST Achievement in Production Design
BEST Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling
BEST Achievement in Costume Design

During a recording session in a Chicago studio in 1927, tensions rise between famed singer Ma Rainey, ambitious horn player Levee and Ma Rainey’s white manager, both of whom are determined to control the fiery “Mother of the Blues” to their own advantage.

Chadwick Boseman

Playing trumpet in Ma Rainey’s band, Levee Green has ambitions to make it on his own and start a band of his own. Growing up black in the early 1900s, he’s got a past filled with violence and anger. He’s smooth with the ladies, hot-tempered with the men, and loves riffing on his horn, much to the chagrin of Ma Rainey herself.

There have been several sweeps this awards season, and Chadwick Boseman has been one of them. A stage play turned into a film usually allows screen actors to have a character and dialogue to sink in their teeth. The monologues of Chadwick Boseman’s character Levee are some of the most memorable of the entire film. Boseman can be fast-talking and confident one moment, then angry and ranting about his past the next. He can be defending himself against a room full of older men and then smooth-talking a beautiful woman the next.

Many will see this posthumous win for Chadwick as a final farewell. But looking across the other performances, this one comes deservedly so. His most prominent competitors are likely Riz Ahmed for “Sound of Metal” and Anthony Hopkins for “The Father,” both of which are men dealing with illnesses. But Boseman has so much to work with here. It’s almost an embarrassment of riches. His wife has been accepting his award wins all season, and I believe we’re in for yet another one of her heartfelt acceptance speeches.

CHADWICK BOSEMAN

— 1st time Nominee —

Viola Davis

The “Mother of the Blues,” Ma Rainey is an American blues singer and recording artist. In Chicago, taking a break from her Southern tour, she records a record for her white manager. Depicted as a diva lashing out, Ma’s voice and ruminations expose a woman aware of her worth in the world.

Best Actress in a Leading Role has become the tightest race of the whole Oscars this year. As of writing this, Viola Davis has just won the Screen Actors Guild award for Best Female Lead. Andra Day was the winner of the Golden Globe Awards. And Carey Mulligan won the Critics’ Choice Awards. So who is the Academy going to choose?

I see it coming down to Davis and Mulligan. Both give outstanding performances in well-made movies. However, there are a few things that might lean in Mulligan’s favor. “Promising Young Woman” has a Best Picture nomination, which means the Academy is behind her film. “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” isn’t a Best Picture nominee. Davis has also won recently. Often when actresses have won before, they seem likely to win again so soon. The immediacy to award them because they’re due is not gone. Carey Mulligan, on the other hand, has been nominated once before yet has never won. She’s put out consistently solid work. They may finally reward her for it.

VIOLA DAVIS

2008 (81st)	Best Actress in a Supporting Role	“Doubt”	NOMINATED
2011 (84th)	Best Actress in a Leading Role	“The Help”	NOMINATED
2016 (89th)	Best Actress in a Supporting Role	“Fences”	WON

Ann Roth

Flapper dresses and suits are the costumes that fill “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.” A little underwhelming when compared to the other nominees. Yet Ann Roth is the front-runner. The costumes of “Emma,” “Mank,” and “Mulan” all stand out a bit more in my eyes, but when the ground is swelling toward a particular nominee, it’s hard not to listen.

Ann Roth

1984 (57th)	Best Costume Design	“Places in the Heart”	NOMINATED
1996 (69th)	Best Costume Design	“The English Patient”	WON
1999 (72nd)	Best Costume Design	“The Talented Mr. Ripley”	NOMINATED
2002 (75th)	Best Costume Design	“The Hours”	NOMINATED

Sergio Lopez-Rivera, Mia Neal and Jamika Wilson

The hair and makeup at work in “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” eludes me. Yet here it is as the front-runner. No offense, but besides Ma Rainey’s slathered-on makeup, the rest is pretty standard period makeup. Meanwhile, “Hillbilly Elegy” transforms Glenn Close into a different person, “Emma” is packed to the brim with hair and makeup, and “Mank” pulls off a black-and-white period piece flawlessly. Perhaps the Academy will see it that way as well, and something will upset.

Sergio Lopez-Rivera | Mia Neal | Jamika Wilson

— 1st time Nominee —

Production Design: Mark Ricker
Set Decoration: Karen O’Hara and Diana Stoughton

“Mank” has been the darling of the Production Design category all season, so it will be difficult to unseat it. However, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” has that stage play feel with the intricate set designs that we spend more time in than usual. Moments like Levee bursting through the basement door to find himself more or less in a cage or the black men walking into the store of all white men are made better by the set design.

Mark Ricker | Diana Stoughton

— 1st time Nominee —

Karen O’Hara

1986 (59th)	Best Art Direction	“The Color of Money”	NOMINATED
2010 (83rd)	Best Art Direction	“Alice in Wonderland”	WON