Ray Movie Review:


Taylor Hackford’s Ray is a firm biopic of the late music legend Ray Charles. Though hampered with repetition, minor flaws, and a goofy ending, the film rides on the shoulders of Jamie Foxx, who delivers a knockout performance, as well as the actuality that Charles himself was a “genius,” but not a saint.

The film moves back and forth through flashbacks of Charles’ (Foxx) rise to music stardom in the late 1960’s to his childhood life in a sharecropping society. The flashbacks work for the most part developing the relationship with between Charles and his mother (Sharon Warren). Also critical to the film from Charles’ childhood are haunting visions of his younger brother drowning and battling the world after losing his sight.

Charles’ life as a musician is progressed through his first meeting with a young Quincy Jones (Larenz Tate) in Seattle all the way to his revolution of the music industry by making his own sound with a mix of blues, country, gospel, and jazz. Early in his career Charles marries a sweet preacher’s daughter named Della Bea (Kerry Washington) and begins his own family. The film, however, does not shy away from showing Charles’ life on the road, which includes relationships with many other women, most notably back up singer Margie Hendricks (Regina King). Charles’ struggle with heroin addiction is also potently captured throughout this film. Most of Charles’ news breaking decisions are also unveiled in the film, such as his refusal to play to a Jim Crow segregated audience in Georgia. Charles was then banned from the state, but the state’s song to this day is Charles’ hit “Georgia on My Mind.”

As with any biopic, the relationships between Charles and all of the supporting characters dissolve. However, director Taylor Hackford and screenwriter James White do not sugar coat their look into the life of this music legend. As with the majority of biopics, such as the The Hurricane, the facts are skewed to give more praise to the focused individual. Hackford shows Charles’ inner demons and lows as a person, even when he is one of the most beloved musicians in the world. This film could have easily just focused in on Charles’ struggle with his handicap and race in the world, but there is so much more that he went through. This is mostly why the film is a draining two and half hours long, even though some of it is redundant. There are alterations of course, such as the revealing factor that Charles has one illegitimate child, when he in fact had over ten. Hackford does an applicable job of handling this huge story, in which he has an eye for biopics, he previously directed the worthy Richie Valens biopic LaBamba.

White’s structure with the script of jumping and flashing back all over the place works for the most part, even though it is choppy. The flashbacks with Charles as a youngster and his mother convey some powerful moments, but when the climatic ending of the film takes place in a flashback it is just sort of a dunce cop-out. Ray Charles was a fascinating man and artist, and this film pays a respectable tribute. Charles was an advisor on the film and did approve it before his death last summer due to liver failure.

Outside of the tribute factors and the stellar music (in which all original recordings are by Charles), the real reason to see this film is for the brilliant performance by Jamie Foxx. The rising actor gets everything right, the smile, the posture, the walk, the voice, and the energy as the legendary Ray Charles. Throughout the film, it is as if you are watching Ray Charles himself, due to Foxx’s dead-on depiction. There are not many times when one can say this, but Foxx is perfect and should be a hot contender for an Oscar this year.

The supporting cast of the film are also excellent, but are light years behind Foxx. Regina King plays one of his mistresses, and the two share one of the film’s best scenes together with the creation of “Hit the Road Jack.” Clifton Powell is effective as Charles’ manager as is Kerry Washington as his supporting wife. In the flashbacks, Sharon Warren brings the film an emotional lift as Charles’s mother and child actor C.J. Sanders is convincing as the young Ray Charles.

Audiences may be turned off by this film’s longevity and repetitive nature. However, this is one of the better biopics to come out recently and the atmosphere that Hackford captures around Foxx’s great performance is full of vigor. If you are a music fan, you will appreciate Ray.

Grade: B

Bailey Henderson

Did we really know the whole legend of the late great Ray Charles? If director Taylor Hackford and screenwriter James L. White have anything to say, we really didn’t.

“Proof of Life” director Taylor Hackford’s latest film “Ray” chronicles the trials, tribulations and life-altering moments of the late entertainer. Jamie Foxx plays Ray Charles who was able to overcome early childhood blindness, a life of poverty and a heroin addiction to become one of the greatest forces in music the world has ever seen.

“Ray” is the perfect example of a “middle of the road” biopic. You have great ones like “Gandhi”, “The Buddy Holly Story” and of course “Chaplin”. Then you have middle road ones like “La Bamba”, “My Left Foot” and “Michael Collins”. Then there are disappointments like “Ali”, “Prefontaine”, “Seven Years in Tibet” and “Sylvia”.

So what does constitute a great biography? Well first there has to be an interesting subject. Then you have to decide what kind of layers does the film want to show. Is the film a compliment or does it want to uncover all the demons?

Second there has to be a great accomplishment in the subject’s life that the audience can relate to. This second criteria is why Hollywood loves to make biopics on musicians. All the audience has to do is hear a song or a verse and then they know who the piece is about. When filmmakers lose the right to use the material produced by their subject, the film loses a lot of its impact. A perfect example of that was 2003’s “Sylvia”.

The third and final piece to the biography puzzle is how do you want to tell the story? Does the film show the subject’s whole life or just an important portion?

When it comes to “Ray”, all the important parts are met but there seems to be a lack in the presentation that makes the film lose its impact.

Still to this day the closest you can get to a perfect film biography is the immortal “Gandhi”. Like the flawless performance by Ben Kingsley as the legendary pacifist leader so is the amazing performance by Jamie Foxx as Ray Charles. Foxx is utterly flawless and it is truly an amazing performance.

But one great performance doesn’t make a completely great film. This can be said about other biographies including “My Left Foot” and “Michael Collins”. Daniel Day-Lewis and Liam Neeson do amazing jobs in their title roles but the film around them is quite flawed. This also can also be said about “Ray”.

Other than the performance by Foxx as Ray Charles, there are amazing performances from co-stars Kerry Washington and new comer Sharon Warren. Washington’s steadfast portrayal of Ray Charles devoted but suffering wife Della Bea is utterly magical but a lot more subdued than Foxx’s Charles. Sharon Warren plays the young single mother to Ray Charles and his younger brother George. Warren’s performance is heartbreaking and wrought with the purest emotion I have seen on screen this year. I hope Oscar not only remembers Foxx but Warren as well in a supporting role.

I have always loved the music of Ray Charles and that element helped a lot of my enjoyment of a lot of the many concert set pieces. But as the music brought out positive emotion some of the scenes involving the entertainer and how he treated the people around him bugged me. I know a lot of the great artists have been flawed in their lives but some of the scenes left a bitter taste in my mouth.

Hackford’s direction is flamboyant and does harness a lot of the emotion of Charles. His no holds barred approach to telling the legend of Ray Charles doesn’t deliver on the impact that it should. All these tragic things happened to the man and Foxx’s performance is flawless but why don’t we care at all about the man?

I liked a lot of “Ray” but like a lot of “middle of the road” biopics the leading performance is probably all that will be remembered when the buzz goes away.

(4 out of 5)

So Says the Soothsayer.

Dean Kish

After going blind at the age of seven, Ray Robinson was taught by his mother to take care of himself. Learning the piano and becoming an accomplished singer and pianist in the early 1950s, he overcome prejudice and his blindness by sheer determination and talent. The record deals came but it wasn’t until his contract was acquired by Ahmet Ertegun (Armstrong) Atlantic Records that his musical genius was allowed to flourish and the world would start to know the name of Ray Charles (Foxx).

Once in a while you see a performance by an actor or actress that can be classed as truly great and when you watch ‘Ray’ you will witness one of those performances.

Autobiographical films can be very hit or miss. The casting can be off, the facts might not be as truthful as you would want or you might only see a snippet of the person’s life but once in a while Hollywood can get it right. Based on the early career of Ray Charles, from his first job as a pianist in a Seattle club to a pivotal point in his life that would change the rest of his life, this is a no holds barred look at the career of one of music’s true talents. Unlike many biopics this shows all sides of Ray’s persona, not just the one we witness on stage or in the recording studio. We witness his home live, his infidelities, his struggles with racism and his addiction to heroin. We also discover the childhood event that would shape the rest of life and explain why he was so driven. For music fans, the material is completely riveting, highlighting the fact that an excessive, self-destructive lifestyle wasn’t just the realm of Rock and Roll.

At the core of the movie is the performance of Jamie Foxx as Ray Charles. The word extraordinary is used far too often when it comes to describing the acting of some individuals but this time there is no other word to describe Foxx’s portrayal of legendary entertainer. It has been a very long time since an actor has captured the character he or she is portraying so exactly. As Ray Charles was such a public and well-known figure it is easy to see how good Foxx’s performance actually is. It is like been transported back in time to witness the actual events that shaped his life by actually watching a young Ray Charles. He has captured everything exquisitely with his voice, movements and mannerisms are all matched perfectly after spending a lot of time with the performer before he sadly passed away in 2004. He has been an actor of promise for a long time and his performance in ‘Collateral’ in 2004 really showcased his talents but this is something else.

There is also some excellent support for Foxx. Kerry Washington and Regina King play the women in Ray’s life Della Bea Robinson, his long suffering wife and Margie Hendricks, Ray’s lead backing singer and lover while his was on the road. These are two very strong performances of two very different women. Bea is the church-going homely type and mother to Ray’s two sons and Margie is Ray’s lover and inspiration. Clifton Powell is also good as Ray’s right hand man Jeff Brown and there is also a powerful performance from Sharon Warren as Ray’s mother Aretha Robinson.

While Ray Charles might have been a very public figure, there is a lot to his early life that you might not have known and this is what makes ‘Ray’ a very interesting biopic. The film does seem to drag abit in the second act but there are moments to treasure as well as shocks and laughs as we see his early career unfold before our eyes. Co-writer/Director Taylor Hackford has done an excellent job and by taking an honest and very frank approach to the movie, highlighting Ray’s flaws as well as his genius. It is the performance of Jamie Foxx however that the film will be remembered for as this is one of the great acting performances of all time.

Star Rating = * * * *

Jamie Kelwick

 

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