I've been working my way through a list of best-reviewed movies compiled by the Washington Post.
Don't miss these two. First, The Forty Year Old Version.
Again Netflix fails as it did with Cuties, with a cover image that gives no insight into the delights within. I'll admit I wavered during the first few minutes of the movie too. Stick with it. The film is beautifully shot in black and white (except for key moments in color) and traces the star, Radha Blank, in a real-life tale of her struggles as a black woman playwright to get her work produced. The cast is a delight and the movie subverts and plays with expectations and tropes in a sly and funny way. I watched it twice in 2 days.
Second, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom. I'm a huge Viola Davis fan but I will acknowledge that despite her chops, this movie belongs to Chadwick Boseman. It read, a little suffocatingly, like a play filmed for the big screen, but the performances are strong, especially Davis, Boseman and the band members, and most especially with the loss of Boseman a few months ago. Watching Viola Davis as Ma bossing around the white agent and production studio owner is a treat.
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