The movie "Ray", starring Jamie Foxx, is the life story of blind musician, Ray Charles. This tells not only events that took place during Ray Charles' life as a musician, but stories from his childhood (including how he became blind), his home life, and his struggle with addiction. This tremendous tale is that of a boy who was born into poverty who lost his eyesight at the age of seven, and still lived on to become a legend by means of his own sheer determination.
Review
I didn't really have many preconceived notions of this film because I hadn't heard any publicity for it when it was in theatres or beforehand. I didn't even know that the film existed until after it came out on DVD, which was why I was so surprised at its success. It turned out to be a very worthwhile film; it's nice to see a good movie come out of
Hollywood every once in a while.
When I found out that the film was starring Jamie Foxx, my hopes weren't high for it. The only thing I'd ever seen Jamie Foxx in beforehand was "The Jamie Foxx Show" on the WB, which was a "comedy" of sorts. I'm not reviewing "The Jamie Foxx Show", so I'll just say it didn't appear as though Jamie Foxx could pull off a decent roll from what I'd seen of his TV series.
I, however, was incredibly wrong about Jamie Foxx. He played a wonderful Ray Charles, and I was amazed at both his singing and acting talents. He was put on stage with other talented people, and the result was an excellently cast film. The acting by all the entire cast was stupendous, and it really made me care about the characters and their situations. Going from knowing nothing about Ray Charles and his life, to rejoicing with him during his triumphs and feeling down during his times of sorrow shows the impact this film had on me. The film didn't particularly pertain to me at all, I have very little in common with Ray Charles, and yet I was drawn into the plot, and interested in his life.
My one complaint about this movie was that the timeline in it was a bit hard to follow. Time would change often between Charles' childhood, his years playing as a pianist for a country western band, and his years of achieving his dream. Shifts in time happened throughout the film, and sometimes left me a bit perplexed as to what had just happened, but it wasn't incredibly hindering to understanding the storyline, the sequence of events was just a bit skewed.
Conclusion
Though I suppose I would have liked this movie better if I had been a Ray Charles fan before, I still think that it was a very good film, though it was incredibly long. I was amazed by the resemblance of Jamie Foxx to the real Ray Charles, as well as those of some of the other characters. There were authentic photographs shown of Ray Charles and his comrades at the end of the film, and I (thought I) could pick out people I recognized from the resemblance they bore to the actors and actresses selected to play them. All in all, I was amazed by this movie, and it was the wonderful rendition of the life-story of someone who truly was a genius. The life of Ray Charles was phenomenal, and I'm amazed that one person could accomplish so much in his lifetime. Knowing no background of Ray Charles' life, or even who he was other than a name, I was really blown away by how he lived, and what he lived through. "Ray" was an amazingly made film, and Jamie Foxx's Academy Award for his portrayal of Ray Charles was well deserved.
