The latest from John Sayles is a fairly gentle-paced comedy drama about a travelling musician in the Fifties. Bar owner Tyrone Purvis (Glover) has a bar deep in the countryside that is failing, due to the locals frequenting a more flourishing establishment with a jukebox across the street.

Deep in debt, Tyrone channels all his fortunes into a make-or-break night when the great 'Guitar Sam' will play live in his Honeydripper lounge. He hopes the good times will rock 'n' roll if he has just one, great night.

Into town comes a drifter by the name of Sonny Blake (Gary Clark Jnr), a bright young man with nothing to his name but big dreams and the guitar case in his hand. Quite mysteriously, but necessary for the plot, Sonny is rejected by Tyrone when he asks for a chance to play at the Honeydripper. Given Tyrone's plight, you would have thought he would have jumped at the chance.

Instead, Sonny bumps into the local Sheriff, and things go bad for him until Tyrone, let down by the non-appearance of the great Guitar Sam finally works out that Sonny may be the answer to his troubles.

John Sayles' film is a throwback to the era of racial tensions in the Fifties Deep South, an era where the jukebox was challenging the magnetic appeal of live musicians for the attentions of local black people looking for a good night out.

The film's main weakness is that is slow-paced and you're crying out for young Sonny to be given a chance to show what he can do with a guitar long before the end.

Its strength is in Sayles' rendering of the period and a set-up that's perfect in a way that the Coen brothers would appreciate. Sayles plays it straight down the line in a quietly-burning drama, which rises to a head in the final reel.