Beyoncé and Adrien Brody’s Forgotten Collaboration Took an Unconventional Look at Musical Legends

Since the early 2000s, Hollywood has seen an explosion of musical biopics to the extent where they often copy story beats. 2004’s Ray and 2005’s Walk the Line share similar themes of childhood trauma, drug use, and the price of fame. Recent era biopics like A Complete Unknown and the upcoming Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere put the spotlight on generational talents breaking musical traditions in their rise to superstardom. In between all these biopics, 2008’s Cadillac Records tackled all these themes at once with an incredibly talented ensemble cast.

Unlike the typical rags-to-riches biopics, the Darnell Martin musical drama takes a unique perspective on the artistic and commercial side of the music industry at large. Critics such as the legendary Roger Ebert praise Cadillac Records for depicting “the evolution of a black musical style, and the tangled motives of the white men who had an instinct for it.” Beyond its highlights of Chuck Berry’s crossover success and the iconic recording of Etta James’ “At Last,” Cadillac Records seeks to humanize these Rock and Roll Hall of Fame talents through their personal and professional struggles.

What Is ‘Cadillac Records’ About?

Cadillac Records examines the formation of the Chicago-based record company Chess Records, operated by bar owner-turned-executive Leonard Chess (Adrien Brody). The first half of the film depicts Chess’ early discovery of blues guitarist Muddy Waters (Jeffrey Wright) and harmonica player Little Walter (Columbus Short). Both rise to fame on the R&B charts, receive luxury Cadillac cars as gifts, and find turmoil in their lives between Waters’s unfaithful marriage to Geneva (Gabrielle Union) and Walter’s addiction to alcohol. Then the arrival of Berry (Mos Def), who wins over white audiences within the rock and roll craze of the ‘50s, creates resentment in Walters, feeling sidelined and underpaid.

The latter half of the picture sees Chess discover Etta James (Beyoncé Knowles), whose troubled past with her family upbringing results in the label’s most powerful ballad recordings. She shares a complicated relationship with Chess that blurs the line between muse and potential lover. But her trauma and addiction to heroin threaten her career. As some of the label’s artists begin to collapse at the hands of their vices and others rebel against the unjust treatment by Chess, the music translates to something much larger within the culture of America and abroad.

Cadillac Records does many things thematically to break from traditional films about the music business. Where a musical like Dreamgirls glamorizes the industry while sanitizing the darker aspects of it, Martin plays the Chess Records story hot and gritty. She emphasizes the smoldering, sensual heat of the Waters recordings as well as James’ emotionally intense vocals as she’s on the verge of tears. The attention to authenticity goes so far as to forego having the actors lip-sync to the original recordings and instead perform cover versions of each artist’s classic hits.

The Performances in ‘Cadillac Records’ Are a Mixed Bag

In terms of the dark side of the artists featured in Cadillac Records, the depictions of alcoholism, drug use, and infidelity are nothing original. What stands out, however, are class struggles within the label and the music industry at large. Many of these practices, such as Chess presenting cars to the artists rather than paying them in royalties, play into the psychology of fortune while they’re really being robbed of the real money being made in record sales. This aspect of the tale makes Chess a complicated player. For as much as he shows care for each of his success stories at the label, he’s also presented as a grifter who will lie to a talent like Waters about his appreciation while undercutting his value.

The performances are generally a mixed bag under Martin’s direction. Beyoncé as James delivers powerful renditions of “At Last” and “Once in a Lifetime”. But in terms of performance, she overplays it in the dramatic scenes, including her drug-induced state scene with Brody, which comes off more like a scene in a Tyler Perry movie than a gritty drama. The real star of the film is Wright as Waters, who gets a more conclusive arc than most of the other artists depicted. He nails the blues music numbers of Waters and provides a complex mix of charm, restrained rage, and sexual charisma that he rarely displays in movies. Some of his best work comes from his versatility as an actor, especially in a scene where Water’s wife presents him with a baby left behind by an unseen lover. His drunken collapse towards the baby’s face only highlights his sheer brilliance and just one of the many ways Cadillac Records peels away the sugar-coated glamour of the music business.

Cadillac Records is streaming on Prime Video in the U.S.