
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
Overview:
Tensions rise when the trailblazing Mother of the Blues and her band gather at a Chicago recording studio in 1927. Adapted from August Wilson's play.
Recommendations for you

Bessie
The story of legendary blues performer, Bessie Smith, who rose to fame during the 1920s and '30s.

Cadillac Records
The story of sex, violence, race and rock and roll in 1950s Chicago, and the exciting but turbulent lives of some of America's musical legends, including Muddy Waters, Leonard Chess, Little Walter, Howlin' Wolf, Etta James and Chuck Berry.

Rocketman
The story of Elton John's life, from his years as a prodigy at the Royal Academy of Music through his influential and enduring musical partnership with Bernie Taupin.

Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody
The joyous, emotional, heartbreaking celebration of the life and music of Whitney Houston, the greatest female R&B pop vocalist of all time. Tracking her journey from obscurity to musical superstardom.

Hounddog
A drama set in the American South, where a precocious, troubled girl finds a safe haven in the music and movement of Elvis Presley.

Mo' Better Blues
Talented but self-centered trumpeter Bleek Gilliam is obsessed with his music and indecisiveness about his girlfriends Indigo and Clarke. But when he is forced to come to the aid of his manager and childhood friend, Bleek finds his world more fragile than he ever imagined.

Born to Be Blue
Jazz legend Chet Baker finds love and redemption when he stars in a movie about his own troubled life to mount a comeback.

The Adjuster
An uptight insurance man and his film-censor wife become a kinky couple's landlords.

The Five Heartbeats
In the early 1960s, a quintet of hopeful, young African-American men form an amateur vocal group called The Five Heartbeats. After an initially rocky start, the group improves, turns pro, and rises to become a top flight music sensation. Along the way, however, the guys learn many hard lessons about the reality of the music industry.

De-Lovely
From Paris to Venice to Broadway to Hollywood, the lives of Cole Porter and his wife, Linda Lee Thomas were never less than glamorous and wildly unconventional. And though Cole's thirst for life strained their marriage, Linda never stopped being his muse, inspiring some of the greatest songs of the twentieth century.

The Trial of the Chicago 7
What was supposed to be a peaceful protest turned into a violent clash with the police. What followed was one of the most notorious trials in history.

Marshall
Thurgood Marshall, the first African-American Supreme Court Justice, battles through one of his career-defining cases.

Beats
An agoraphobic hip-hop prodigy and a disgraced former music manager cross paths in Chicago’s South Side and help each other face demons of their pasts.

Wild Style
Legendary New York graffiti artist Lee Quinones plays the part of Zoro, the city's hottest and most elusive graffiti writer. The actual story of the movie concerns the tension between Zoro's passion for his art and his personal life, particularly his strained relationship with fellow artist Rose.

Whiplash
Under the direction of a ruthless instructor, a talented young drummer begins to pursue perfection at any cost, even his humanity.

Valentino
The untimely death of silent screen star Rudolph Valentino prompts the many women in his past to reminisce about his troubled rise to superstardom.

Sarafina!
A Soweto schoolgirl named Sarafina is galvanized to protest apartheid after her teacher is arrested for her activism, leading her to join the student resistance movement.

The Mambo Kings
The Mambo Kings tells the story of César and Nestor Castillo, brothers and aspiring musicians who flee from Cuba to America in search of the American Dream.

American Son
Time passes and tension mounts in a Florida police station as an estranged interracial couple awaits news of their missing teenage son.

Talk to Me
The story of Washington D.C. radio personality Ralph "Petey" Greene, an ex-con who became a popular talk show host and community activist in the 1960s.