DVD Mini Review - Cadillac Records
Cadiillac Records is an entertaining journey to the past. It is the story of how Leonard Chess (Adrien Brody) founded Cadillac/Chess records in the late 1940s/early 1950s.
Chess had an ear for music and he particularly liked what was then known as "race" music. But he stood his ground and signed such noted African American artists as Muddy Waters (Jeffrey Wright), Chuck Berry (Mos Def), Etta James (Beyonce Knowles), Little Walter (Columbus Short), Howling Wolf (Eamonn Walker) and Willie Dixon (Cedric the Entertainer). There are probably many more but this film is not a documentary and must be lots of things left out. Still and all Darnell Martin did a good job of directing this film and it is good that people find out more about these wonderful singers.
Besides showing us how these singers hooked up with Chess the film also goes into how hard it was back then because of segregation. There was a scene at a Berry concert where the blacks and whites in the audience are separated by a thin divider which gets torn down. With Obama in the White House it is hard to imagine that this was the norm back then. But it really was.
Some people complain that this film is not accurate. That might be so. But it is based on fact and it is not a documentary. I enjoyed the film for what it was and recommend it to those who love this type of music. The music and some fine performances make this a film worth looking at.
Chess had an ear for music and he particularly liked what was then known as "race" music. But he stood his ground and signed such noted African American artists as Muddy Waters (Jeffrey Wright), Chuck Berry (Mos Def), Etta James (Beyonce Knowles), Little Walter (Columbus Short), Howling Wolf (Eamonn Walker) and Willie Dixon (Cedric the Entertainer). There are probably many more but this film is not a documentary and must be lots of things left out. Still and all Darnell Martin did a good job of directing this film and it is good that people find out more about these wonderful singers.
Besides showing us how these singers hooked up with Chess the film also goes into how hard it was back then because of segregation. There was a scene at a Berry concert where the blacks and whites in the audience are separated by a thin divider which gets torn down. With Obama in the White House it is hard to imagine that this was the norm back then. But it really was.
Some people complain that this film is not accurate. That might be so. But it is based on fact and it is not a documentary. I enjoyed the film for what it was and recommend it to those who love this type of music. The music and some fine performances make this a film worth looking at.
posted by Film Fanatic | 7:51 PM
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