Watching the movie Ray I realized that the Ray Charles I knew was the guy that emerged after many years of drug abuse and womanizing. To my eye, he was this sweet old guy who made the most wondrous music. And in my time, that's what he was. Or at least that was the image he managed to put forth. Much of his life before that was a lot less wholesome. Knowing this doesn't make me think any less of Ray. I loved his music before and I still do. The difference now is that the prism I saw him through is rotated and a whole new set of colors appear that I never saw before.
The movie Ray bounces back and forth in time but mostly starts with Charles as a young man with a lot of talent trying to make his mark in music. Being blind and green as grass, people took advantage of him left and right. But he had a way of finding these things out and was ruthless in purging the cheats from his life. His natural talent, no doubt augmented by ears that did double duty for his missing eyesight, was going to guarantee him success. He only needed time, experience and a bit of good advice to launch him to stardom.
Jamie Foxx has been getting a lot of press for this role and it is well deserved. He does an uncanny impersonation of Charles. The late musician was a bundle of odd ticks and movements and had a voice and speaking style entirely his own. If Foxx was even a little off, the whole movie would collapse as we would never buy this actor as the legend. Foxx not only isn't off, he's flawless in capturing every little mannerism. It's a great performance and cements his reputation as an excellent actor. A lot of folks seem surpised at this, no doubt because of Foxx's work as a comedian. But if you go back and check him out in the Oliver Stone football movie Any Given Sunday, you won't be surprised. It was clear then that he had the chops and only needed a chance to prove it. The only thing Foxx doesn't contribute to the role is the singing. No matter how good he is, he could never have matched Charles. It would also be unnecessary as Charles was closely involved with the project prior to his death last year. His presence and his recordings made that level of mimicry pointless.
After Foxx, I loved the performance of Sharon Warren as his tough as nails mother. This is the kind of mother we never see anymore, the kind who knew when to hug her kids for support but more importantly, when to kick out their support to make sure they learned to fend for themselves.
The music is a greatest hits collection that gives the movie an electric energy. Every momentous occasion is punctuated by another Charles song, charging it with energy. Most of them are scenes where the song is recorded but a few are more spontaneous. "What'd I Say" emerges from a show where the band finishes up early and have to kill some time to fulfill their contract. Charles improvises something and then his backup singers chime in, followed by the band and soon the club is going wild. Later, recorded in two parts, the song becomes a huge hit. "Hit the Road Jack" emerges from an argument with Margie (Regina King), one of his backup singers and current lover. The music was already in front of him but her fury is channeled into the song. The movie then seques into a show where the song continues, with Margie burning holes in Charles with her eyes before unleashing a blistering vocal response to his own lyrics. It's a great way to have the music help tell the story in a way dialogue alone never could.
The movie isn't perfect. The story clunks along at times, clumsily shifting gears as it tries to span the years of Ray's career. The ending is fairly anti-climactic, although it's hard to blame the movie as it had run out of the most dramatic parts of Ray's life to work with. There was nothing left but several decades of relative peace and considerable success; certainly good years for Charles but not terribly cinematic. But with a performance as spectacular as Foxx's and music this great, it's hard to get worked up over the problems. In fact, so enthralled was I with the music that I promptly dropped the cash to pick up a collection of Ray Charles music, which is making my speakers bounce around happily as I type this. So I'm going to sign off and dance around the room like a damn fool for awhile.
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