December 02, 2004
Ray
I have to admit that I was very surprised by this movie. I know that people had been saying good things about it, but I felt like the trailers pretty much showed me what I needed to know: Ray Charles was born poor, learned piano, went blind, found fame slowly but surely, liked the women, and had a drug problem.
But I really am glad I gave it a chance. Ray was a movie filled with a lot of familiar storylines, but the style in which the story was told seemed to work in spite of that.
Jamie Foxx is amazing as Charles; it's hard to imagine that this was the same mild-manered taxi cab driver from Collateral! He is able to show both the good and bad sides of Charles convincingly.
Ray was a perfect blend of celebrating Ray Charles's music (entire songs!), showing us his past, and letting us see not only how he made it in the world, but how his womanizing and drug abuse affected his family and career.
I basically came out of the theatre thinking, "Wow, he was a real jerk... but I'm glad he changed, and I love his music." The only thing weird to me was the very abrupt ending. They went year by year in his career and then BOOM, it was over and they were summarizing the rest of his career. But that's a very small complaint.
The entire experience was filled with music and color and energy. I really think they nailed this one. Glad I gave it a chance.
Posted by wendytime at December 2, 2004 08:23 AM | TrackBack