Cadillac Records

Leonard Chess, a scrap dealer in Chicago, starts a record label. He records Muddy Waters, then Little Walter, Howlin' Wolf, Chuck Berry and Etta James. The company electrifies the blues and lays the ground for rock music. Chess gives his artists Cadillacs instead of money. The subject is not the music but what those Cadillacs mean. The artists look rich and never see a royalty statement; the film neither absolves the arrangement nor wholly condemns it, because Chess is also the man who recorded them first. The form is period music film: studio sessions, concerts, and America changing in the background. Most of the songs were re-recorded by the actors. The production was criticised on historical accuracy. Leonard's brother Phil Chess does not appear at all, though they founded the company together, and the order of events and who recorded when were altered. The Chess family objected to those choices. Darnell Martin directs. Adrien Brody plays Chess, Jeffrey Wright plays Muddy Waters, Mos Def plays Chuck Berry and Beyoncé plays Etta James. Who it is for: viewers interested in blues history and stories about the music industry. Who it is not for: anyone expecting documentary accuracy; the film rearranges its cast of real people and its chronology to suit the story.