How coincidental that I watched and am reviewing this in Quincy Jones' 91st birthday, iconic composer of my favorite musical of all time, The Wiz, an immediate mention within the first 15 minutes really let me know I was in for a treat, and my prediction was proven right. Ray is a biopic showcasing the life of one of the most famous jazz musicians of all time, in a period in history with many terrific ones, Ray Charles. I was skeptical going in because of the Aretha Franklin movie, but my skepticism was quickly proven wrong.
Making a biopic, especially of a musician, is difficult, you have to be careful about what is in the movie and what main area of their life the focus is, Respect and Elvis weren't great at that, even though those were widely enjoyed by mainstream audiences, and having this movie released the same year Ray Charles died definitely helped with its greatness.
From the very first moment you're captured into the world that Charles lived in, a segregated US in the 50's and 60's, flashbacks play a big role in the underlying subtext and reason for his common traumatic hallucinations, even in the first scene you see blindness play a part in whether or not Charles gets offered a seat on the bus or not, absolutely genius.
Despite the 2 and a half hour runtime, which can feel a little long for a biopic, my attention was captured the entire time, I wish I was alive in 2004 so that I could've seen this in theaters honestly, Jamie Foxx doesn't even sound like himself here, every single song is shown and sounds exactly like the original recordings, some of the most impressive biopic music work I've seen in a long time.
Jamie Foxx really steals the show here, he has just enough charisma to seem likeable until we start to realize that his character isn't the most likeable person sometimes, and then he's able to make us hate him, this was done beautifully and seamlessly.
There's so much more I could say, maybe after a rewatch or two. Ray might just be my favorite musical biopic of all time, and it gets an A+
Making a biopic, especially of a musician, is difficult, you have to be careful about what is in the movie and what main area of their life the focus is, Respect and Elvis weren't great at that, even though those were widely enjoyed by mainstream audiences, and having this movie released the same year Ray Charles died definitely helped with its greatness.
From the very first moment you're captured into the world that Charles lived in, a segregated US in the 50's and 60's, flashbacks play a big role in the underlying subtext and reason for his common traumatic hallucinations, even in the first scene you see blindness play a part in whether or not Charles gets offered a seat on the bus or not, absolutely genius.
Despite the 2 and a half hour runtime, which can feel a little long for a biopic, my attention was captured the entire time, I wish I was alive in 2004 so that I could've seen this in theaters honestly, Jamie Foxx doesn't even sound like himself here, every single song is shown and sounds exactly like the original recordings, some of the most impressive biopic music work I've seen in a long time.
Jamie Foxx really steals the show here, he has just enough charisma to seem likeable until we start to realize that his character isn't the most likeable person sometimes, and then he's able to make us hate him, this was done beautifully and seamlessly.
There's so much more I could say, maybe after a rewatch or two. Ray might just be my favorite musical biopic of all time, and it gets an A+
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