Review of Ray (2003) by Tomas T — 06 Feb 2010

Ray Charles the blind pianist legend's biography movie reveals some unexpected things about him but manages to do it with style and not ruin the image of this gifted artist. If ever saying "outlooks can be deceiving" is true, it is with Ray Charles.

The movie's script follows a standard biography movie's storyline, as it goes through his lively career from start to the end while seamelessly giving flashbacks about his traumatic youth. During his march towards stardom R.Charles faced multiple obstacles, some which followed him through his whole musical career. Being a star is not easy, the long roadtrips stress one's relationships and it is tempting to find comfort in drungs and other people. Ray Charles was no different, he certainly did not let these things and blindness slow him down.

Like other biography movie, Ray relies heavily on the shoulders of the lead actor, and to be honest, I was suprised about the strong performance J.Foxx gave in this movie. He clearly had done his home work on the character and would go as far as saying this is J.Foxxe's best work yet. If anything is wrong in the movie, it is that some of the background story scenes could have been left out alltogether or edited for shorter running time. Excelent movie overall and next time you hear a song from Ray Charles, I am sure viewers of this movie get a whole new perspective on his music.