Here are your weekend must reads. Netflix's "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom," based on a Tony Award-nominated play, is the best film of 2020, says an NCR movie reviewer. Join Dan Schutte for week four of his virtual Advent reflections. Instead of returning to a Christmas classic, it seems best to wrap up 2020 with an episode of the "Twilight Zone."
NCR movie reviewer Pauline Sr. Rose Pacatte says that "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" is the best film of 2020.
This much talked about Netflix film is based on the Tony Award-nominated 1984 play by August Wilson. Ma Rainey is part of the "American Century Cycle" of ten plays by Wilson that reimagines the 20th-century African American experience, decade by decade.
Except for Ma Rainey, Wilson's plays were fictional and took place in Pittsburgh, where he grew up. Gertrude "Ma" Rainey (1886-1939) was known as the "Mother of the Blues" and was one of the first blues singers to record. This play, based in Chicago, is the only one that Wilson places outside of Pittsburgh.
This is the last film of Chadwick Boseman's career. The actor died in August.
"His performance, his face, smile and youthful ambition and energy, make him a formidable counter antagonist to [Viola] Davis' Ma, who is just plain antagonizing so she can hold her own place in the world," writes Pacatte.
You can read more of the review here.
"This Advent season will be different from all the others we've experienced," writes composer and NCR board member Dan Schutte. "Those familiar Advent themes of longing for God and waiting in hope take on a special meaning for us in the midst of the storm that surrounds us. As always, God is perhaps giving us a special opportunity this year to grow deeper in hope and stronger in the embrace of God's love."
Join Schutte for a weekly Advent Reflection with an introduction by Schutte himself.
The video for the fourth week of Advent reminds us that God comes when we least expect it, sometimes fulfilling promises in unexpected ways.
You can read more and watch the video here.
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Weekend wrap-up
Every Saturday, NCR posts a Scripture reflection from either St. Joseph Sr. Mary M. McGlone or Dominican Sr. Carol J. Dempsey. In today's reflection on the fourth Sunday of Advent, McGlone writes about how to figure out where God lives. You can sign up for Sunday Resources to receive our Scripture reflections two months in advance or sign up for Scripture for Life to get an email each Saturday.
See you next time,
Stephanie Yeagle
NCR Production/Online Editor
[email protected]
Twitter: @ncrSLY
P.S. I'll be out next weekend spending time with my family at home, but look in your inbox for a newsletter from engagement editor Brittany Wilmes!
