Review

Review Date: 31-October-04
Spoiler Rating: Medium
Juju Judgment: Juicy

Ray (2004)

The reason "Ray" never appeared on my Great Expectations list can be summed up in two words: Taylor Hackford. After watching such disasters as "Proof of Life" and the execrable "The Devil's Advocate," I decided that the so-called director should just lop the last syllable off his name and admit his status openly to the world. But a film about Ray Charles has been Hackford's dream for 15 years, and I was intrigued by the buzz that says he pulled it off when he finally got his chance. The buzz, it turns out, is true: although "Ray" resembles other biopics in its story arc and awkward conclusion, it succeeds as a tribute to a remarkable person who had more than his share of Life.

Like so many famous musicians, the late Ray Charles was apparently selfish, prone to excess, and incapable of fidelity. But as Hackford and screenwriter James L. White take great pains to show, his claim to respect and compassion extends beyond his enormous talent. The first third of the movie focuses on the many hardships that defined him: a poverty-stricken childhood in the South, the tough-love lessons of a single mother (Sharon Warren), and a pair of tragedies, including the loss of his eyesight, that haunted him throughout his life. After setting out to seek his fortune as a pliable nightclub performer, the adult Ray (Jamie Foxx) struggles with the dual handicap of being blind and black in a world with little acceptance of either. For several years he hawks his gifts for appreciative crowds but underappreciative partners, until he finally remembers his mother's advice and decides to stop playing the fool.

By this point Hackford and Foxx have won you over; Ray is the underdog, and you're willing to accept that he made mistakes while riding the wave of success that followed. Flush with profits from his partnership with Atlantic Records, Ray sets up a home with a pretty wife (Kerry Washington) and then dives into a nonstop touring schedule that establishes him as a versatile artist with enough star power to change the music business and challenge racial segregation. However, as the years fly by his fame also produces less admirable results, such as heroin addiction, marital tension, and bitter breakups with longtime chums and on-the-road girlfriends, one of whom (Regina King) bears him an illegitimate son before driving herself into ruin.

It's amazing how similar people's stories become when ambition is fulfilled; the real measure of the film's achievement may be how entertaining it is despite being familiar. Foxx's performance is being hailed as a revelation, and while I can't judge his impersonation of Ray Charles, I can say that I never gave him any thought as an actor, but simply bought him as the character from beginning to end. His job is made easier by Hackford's evident devotion to his subject's music, which saturates the film and electrifies a pivotal scene in which Ray unveils a tune off-the-cuff, sending his band and his audience (on screen and off) into a paroxysm of delight. In the final act his wife needs to remind him that music is the meaning of his life, but fortunately "Ray" never forgets it. The movie paints Charles' rags-to-riches, Hell-and-back story as notable, but it highlights his artistry as indelible.

Copyright © 2004 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.