Best Picture 2005 Reviews #4: Ray
By the time I became old enough to be interested in popular music, Ray Charles was an institution. A damn fine institution of extraordinary talent and vigor, but an institution nonetheless.
Georgia On My Mind was already the Georgia state song, and he was starring in Diet Pepsi commercials. So while I appreciated his music, I didn't have any understanding of the often controversial course his life had taken to that point.
Ray, the movie, has changed all that forever. You see Ray Charles from his early childhood, when he still had his sight, through winning his place in a white country band (!), on a bus to Seattle, and many other stops until, finally, you see him transcending the genres which influenced him and creating modern soul music. Of course, you also see him womanizing and using heroin; the man was a pioneer, not a saint.
As an aside, kids, don't do heroin. Heroin is bad. Watch
Ray to see how bad.
Ray would be a compelling story, regardless of anything else, but I can't even begin to express how good Jamie Foxx is at being Ray Charles. By way of example, there is a scene where Ray Charles sits down at the piano and starts to write "Hit the Road, Jack." Then there's a cut to a full on-stage performance of the song. The credits revealed that while Ray Charles had done the vocals for the full performance, Foxx had done the singing and playing in the composition scene. I had absolutely no idea -- the transition was seamless. Foxx is just that good. He's astounding.
Oh, um. Ray was directed, and it had a screenplay. Yeah. It was fine, but not extraordinary. The film is a Very Good Biopic, about as good as they can get. I thought
The Aviator was a better film overall, because it colored outside the lines of what a biopic is supposed to be, whereas
Ray was exemplary but conventional.
But damn, Jamie Foxx is good. Go, see it, don't worry about the screenplay or the direction or anything else other than the music of Ray Charles and the acting of Jamie Foxx.
Acting: You mean that wasn't really Ray Charles?
Direction: Who cares?
Screenplay: You know, now that you mention it, the rise to superstardom of a poor blind black kid from south Georgia does seem like an interesting subject for a film.
Overall: Not *quite* as good as
The Aviator, but still a really excellent film. And, dude, it's Ray Charles!
