Now what you need to know is that the original play is not Wilson's greatest. It's an early one – the second that he wrote – so early that's it not even set in Pittsburgh. He wrote it before he had begun to shape the plays according to what would come to be called the Pittsburgh Cycle or the Century Cycle. It's also, notably, the only play with a noticeably queer character and the only play with a famous historical personage. Ma Rainey's Black Bottom is, in more ways even than this, an outlier in the entire cycle.
In any case, all of that preamble to say that Wolfe has made a very, very good film. The camerawork is dynamic. So dynamic that the film doesn't feel like something made on a soundstage. It feels larger than the theatre.
The opening fake-out shot is brilliant. The performances are excellent across the board. The makeup is fantastic. This is good stuff.
Still... I remain unsure if the film really justifies its third act – the play certainly doesn't, and I don't think the film does much better here. And maybe I have also always felt as though the play doesn't need what happens in act three (of the film). It strikes me as overly dramatic, just a little too much for what the story is trying to do.
Anyway, that's the source material. And Wolfe and his cast do a great job with the text. I really liked this.
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