Review of Ray (2004) by Dawdlingpoet — 20 Nov 2021

I liked the cinematography used in this movie, it seemed to use some old 1950s footage of New York and LA to give you a good idea of what it was like back then, with the large cars and old buildings, which still has a bit of a modern feel to it and the shots of old, somewhat jazzy bars and clubs that he would perform in. I felt at times as if I wasn't sure what to think of Ray as the character in the movie, I have to say I'm not overly keen on Jamie Foxx as an actor although his portrayal of Ray did seem pretty genuine and well done, portraying a blind person who lives for his music and women and has to deal with regret about something that happened a long time ago but in terms of the character himself, at times you could wonder whether its right to feel sorry for him - sure he doesn't want people to feel sorry for 'the poor old cripple' but seeing his downfall with mistresses and drug use, you could wonder why you should feel much empathy or even interest in what happens to him? surely its obvious that he's going to overdose or disappear into obscurity? (again I'll re-iterate that I wasn't that familiar with his life to really know either way) but there is something about him and especially his poor wife Della that has to deal with his ways and try to confront him about his drug use before the authorities get involved, that keeps you watching to see what if any outcome there is for him. I guess its the usual sort of rock and roll lifestyle story in a sense, of an artist who gets increasingly popular with hit records, earning a good amount of money and getting married, starting a family but as their popularity increases, their personal life gets more complicated and starts going downhill, as is rather the case here.

I liked Kerry Washingtons portrayal of his wife Della, I thought Foxx and Washington interacted quite well and you could tell that Della was really quite concerned for Ray and what was happening and watching her trying to keep an eye on what he got up to on the road was quite sad.

It was interesting to see how some people reacted to Rays music, the combination of gospel and R&B which was clearly, at the time (the 1950s I believe), quite controversial and indeed a priest enters one of the venues he performs in at one point and insists he stop singing sacreligious songs but when Ray asks the general audience whether they want him to stop or play on, there's a resounding call for him to keep playing.

I also liked how Quincy Jones features near the start of the movie, he introduces himself to Ray and this is clearly before he hit the big time, he's in his 20s at this time and it makes you wonder what things must have been like at that time, with what are now such big names in music only just starting out then. It makes you wonder who's not know now that will be huge in the future too, of course!

All in all, I thought that while this was rather a long movie and indeed I think the length of the movie had put me off watching it before (its about two hours and 20 minutes long), I'm glad I finally did see it as its a well made movie that its quite obivous has had alot of thought put into it. I do tend to avoid Jamie Foxx movies, he seems such an arrogant actor and tends to play somewhat arrogant roles from the little I know and I feel like I have no interest in such movies but I was curious enough to want to see this, to hear the music and get an idea of what Ray was presumably like and his life story, though I obviously can't vouch for the accuracy of the story but presumably he had a bit of a say in it before it came out, which was coincidentally the same year he sadly passed away, in 2004 I believe. I liked that there was a fair amount of music and fun scenes of his performances and of the crowds reactions to him but there's also a proper story that highlights his different struggles and his background too. The cinematography did seem particularly good, I do like a movie with good shots and there are some particularly good ones here, there's one shot thats shown a few times of coloured bottles tied to a tree from where he lived a a young boy, which seems to be part of a hallucination flashback I think. Anyway I think this movie would look good on a large screen and the soundtrack is good too.