Cadillac Cinema

In the long canon of films exploring the triumphs and tragedies of popular music, Cadillac Records will probably not go down as one for the ages. Lacking the infectious title track of La Bamba, the eye-popping technicolor of Dreamgirls, the riveting love story of Walk the Line, or the singular focus of Ray, this new film, about the career of Len Chess, founder of Chess Records, will nonetheless leave ardent fans of the blues tickled pink. Starring Jeffrey Wright as Muddy Waters, Beyoncé Knowles as Etta James, Adrien Brody as Len Chess, Mos Def as Chuck Berry and Columbus Short as Little Walter, the film tells the tale of a Polish émigré who was determined to break out and be a success in America. Willing to take risks in a genre then known as "race music," Chess helps break color barriers as his artists cross over from the blues charts to the pop charts. Of course, white musicians quickly catch on, appropriating the sound for themselves and giving rise to the new genre called rock 'n' roll. Still, the Chess Records artists stay faithful to their style (if not to their spouses) and refuse to be marginalized when it seems their nascent power and notoriety is fading before their eyes. That their music (soulfully presented in this film) holds up more than fifty years after it was first recorded is proof that these bluesmakers' songs were the real deal and that the gift Cadillac Len Chess bestowed on his acts anytime they had a chartbreaker was well-earned. Indeed, if Chess were still alive today, fostering the careers of young hitmakers and goading them with Caddies, perhaps General Motors might not be in Washington begging for cash. Cadillac Records, which is rated R, opens in wide release today and can be seen in theaters throughout New York City.