It's music from the soundtrack of many a person's life in this exceptional, fact-based look at the rise of Chess Records, led by founder Leonard Chess (Adrien Brody). The film also charts the stable of influential artists who recorded on the label, among them Etta James (played with saucy, sassy insouciance by Beyoncé Knowles), Chuck Berry (Mos Def), Muddy Waters (Jeffrey Wright), Howlin' Wolf (Eamonn Walker) and Willie Dixon (Cedric the Entertainer). Written and directed by Darnell Martin.