Cadillac Records centers on Leonard Chess (Adrien Brody), a young man with big dreams, first of opening a club, and then upon a meeting with Muddy Waters (Jeffrey Wright), a record producer. This film chronicles the rise of Chess Records, a company that was funded by insurance money when a mysterious fire took down Chess' night club. He founded the company on the strength of Muddy Waters and Little Walter, creating hit record after hit record.
Writer/director Darnell Martin does a fine job of giving us a snapshot of the lives of so many people in a rather short period of time. This is both a blessing and a curse. Watching these greats work in the studio (albeit in likely dramatized fashion) is the next best thing to actually being there. The blessing is what we get to see and hear, the music, the bits of their lives as they happened to be in the right place at the right time with the right man.
Cadillac Records possesses a number of fine performances. Adrien Brody and Jeffrey Wright are strong in the two primary roles of Chess and Waters. Wright, in particular, shines bringing life to Waters on the big screen. Among the supporting cast we get some fine performances as well. I would have to say that two of my favorites were Eamonn Walker as Howlin' Wolf and Mos Def as Chuck Berry. Walker brings Wolf to the screen in imposing fashion, a man of intelligence with an appearance that is just a little bit frightening. Mos Def injects a dose of humor in his brief appearance as Berry, I really wish we got more of him on the screen.
Bottomline. This is definitely a movie to check out, just be prepared to come away with a thirst for more. It is a slice of the era, with no real beginning or end, just a look at what happened during this particular point in time and the lasting impact it had. Well, that and the fact that the music is great.
Recommended.
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