Ray (****)
review by Jon
Waterman
Ray Charles Robinson went blind at the age of seven. That
didn’t stop him from living as complete a life as possible.
His mother taught him to do things on his own and to not let
a lack of sight hinder his vision and his aspirations. Ray
took that to heart and headed up to Seattle to start his career
as a professional jazz pianist. His skills were apparent from
the beginning, and he quickly got bigger and bigger deals.
He dropped the Robinson from his name and embarked on a recording
career that would continue for over four decades.
His life sounds pretty good summed up like that, doesn’t
it? We all know that Ray Charles is a legendary, talented musician.
What we may not know is what the movie focuses on. This is
the first biopic to come out in a long time that avoids sugar
coating any aspect of the subject’s life. At no point
did I envy him. It seemed less like a celebration of his life
and more of an exorcism. All of his demons are exposed and
wrenched out on the screen. I gotta hand it to first time writer
James L. White. He managed to make the movie interesting for
a potentially painful one hundred fifty two minutes. I could
have gone longer, actually. The film covers the most tumultuous
years and then very very briefly glances over the rest in the
span of five minutes. Some of the dialogue was quite clichéd,
but the performances helped greatly to diffuse that.
Virtually all of the characters in the film had some level
of depth. Often times it was minimal based solely on the amount
of screen time they received, but the wide array of dynamic
personalities made for a much richer environment. Sharon Warren
(as Ray’s mother) stood out to me. She had to exude a
complex range of emotions, and there’s no question that
she pulled it off. Even Bokeem Woodbine (as band mate Fathead
Newman), who had previously shown me nothing that proves he
belongs in the business, impressed me with his character’s
subtle progression. Of course, the stand out is Ray, I mean,
Jamie Foxx. Foxx is just a dead ringer physically. The movements,
the smile, the posture and poise are all pitch perfect. The
acting is fantastic, too. A very far cry from “Bait.” It’s
amazing that the two biggest hams from “In Living Color” have
turned out to be such revered actors. This is definitely one
of the best performances of the year.
Director Taylor Hackford and Cinematographer Pawel Edelman
put the whole thing together in a visually dark, yet appealing
manner. I’d like to thank Taylor for sparing us from
any blind or near blind point-of-view shots. I also appreciate
the use of red/orange flashes in between shots. It turned out
to be a good effect that wasn’t beaten to death. I wish
the movie had forced us to pay more attention to the details
of the surroundings like Ray had to. As it was, I felt a little
distanced and unable to connect fully with anything besides
the music.
Despite a deep connection with Ray, it is an incredibly emotional,
moving film. The feelings are perfectly punctuated by the music.
It was a wise decision to not have Foxx sing these classic
songs. These are sung in a way that only Ray’s distinctive
voice could sing them. The whole film was handled nicely and
couldn’t be executed much better. This definitely beats “The
Aviator.”
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