Synopsis
Cadillac Records (2008) is a music biopic you can watch online on iFILM, tracing how a basement label in 1950s Chicago helped invent modern American sound. Darnell Martin wrote and directed it.
At its heart sit two men: immigrant label boss Leonard Chess (Adrien Brody) and bluesman Muddy Waters (Jeffrey Wright), whom Chess pulled off a Mississippi plantation and turned into a star. The studio fills up around them — harmonica wildman Little Walter, the growling Howlin' Wolf, cocky Chuck Berry, and Etta James, played by Beyoncé, whose "At Last" lands like a confession. Money, the color line, booze and jealousy crack the family apart even as their records reshape the country.
Martin skips the glossy legend for something with bruises, showing how Black artists built rock and roll while their royalties too often arrived as a shiny new Cadillac instead of an honest paycheck. A deep cast and a live-wire soundtrack make it a find for anyone who loves blues and R&B. Stream Cadillac Records (2008) online on iFILM.
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