Ray is a 2004 biographical movie concentrating on 30 old ages of the life of beat and blues musician Ray Charles. By the early 1960’s Ray Charles had accomplished his dream. He’d semen of age musically. He’d made it to Carnegie Hall. The hit records “Georgia. ” “Born to Lose” in turn kept mounting to the top of the charts. He’d made his first exultant European concert circuit in 1960 ( a effort which. except for 1965. he’s repeated at least one time a twelvemonth of all time since ) . He had taken virtually every signifier of popular music and broken through its boundaries with such awe animating accomplishments as the LP’s “Genius Plus Soul Equals Jazz” and “Modern Sounds in Country & A ; Western. ” Rhythm & A ; blues ( or “race music” as it had been called ) became universally respectable through his attempts. Jazz found a mainstream audience it had ne’er antecedently enjoyed.
And state & A ; western music began to chart an unexpected class to general credence. so world-wide popularity. And along the manner Ray Charles was instrumental in the innovation of stone & A ; axial rotation. Born in a hapless African American town in cardinal Florida. Ray Charles went blind at the age of 7. With the steadfast support of his determined individual female parent. he developed the ferocious resoluteness. humor and unbelievable endowment that would finally enable him to get the better of non merely Jim Crow Racism and the barbarous biass against the blind. but besides detect his ain sound which revolutionized American popular music. However. as Ray’s unprecedented celebrity grew. so did his failing for drugs and adult females. until they threatened to deprive away the really things he held most beloved. This small known narrative of Ray Charles’ meteorologic rise from low beginnings. his successful battle to stand out in a sighted universe and his eventual licking of his ain personal devils make for an inspiring and unforgettable true narrative of human victory. Taylor Hackford’s
Ray is at bosom little more than a run-of-the factory biopic that hits all the familiar narrative points for that genre. What keeps this movie from going wholly prosaic is the ferocious. commanding public presentation of Jamie Foxx. This is non an caricature of Ray Charles. nor is it a conceited effort to enjoy in the freshness of Ray Charles the famous person. Foxx finds hard emotional topographic points to travel to. and his Ray Charles is frequently more interesting than the 1 Hackford seems to desire to state the audience about. One can believe that these astonishing vocals are coming from this adult male. and that may be the biggest compliment one can pay to the public presentation. That point besides leads to the other facet of the movie that keeps it afloat: the superb music. The movie was made with Charles’ blessing. and he allowed the film makers to utilize his original recordings. Had this been a drama. a one-person show with the same music. it would do for a fascinating and memorable eventide. As he ever does. Hackford fills his movie with convention after convention. and in making so. undercuts the existent and complicated issues evident both in Foxx and in the music.
