Review of Ray (2004) by Ruhan R — 26 Sep 2011
I was never a huge fan of Ray Charles and knew even less about his life, but I certainly never disliked his work and dug a few of his tracks. My own lack of knowledge aside, Ray proved to be a very well produced biopic of the jazz legends career.
This was definitely the best performance Jamie Foxx has ever done, the way he merged himself with the jazz icon's persona was wonderful. Taylor Hackford really put in some work with this movie. It was apparent that he put in his full effort to ensure that the cast understood what they were a part of down to every extra.
Costumes, props and sets were all marvelous. They really looked authentic and helped to emulate those times. As far as cinematography goes, this movie scored once more. Colour schemes and lighting were effectively used to deliver a bold look to all of the scenes.
That withdrawal scene really stuck out to me, that was some damn good film-making. The one big drawback of this film was that it was limited to real-life events. Of course it's not a direct fault of the makers themselves, it's just a fact of how entertaining the movie could be.
Sure it was cool to see the story of Ray Charles told through film, but the glamour, fame, drugs and women of celebrity life are far from original concepts. It may have been a true story, but it's a story we've all heard before.
Nonetheless, Ray was a well made movie, it was just limited by it's realism.
This review of Ray (2004) was written by Ruhan R on 26 Sep 2011.
Ray has generally received very positive reviews.
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