Word: charlesã
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There is something like ashy molasses in Ray Charles?? voice: dripping syrupy sweet with southern charm yet charged with gritty, unhewn candor, it resonates with a sense of immediacy and emotional clarity that is nothing short of divine. And yet somehow, even after seventeen tedious years of development, Ray, based on Charles?? life, does not muster any semblance of the splendor within his music. The film lacks emotional attachment on any level and fails in every way as a meaningful addition to his life and legacy. With a mix of deceitful, manipulative Hollywood story telling techniques...
...somehow, even after seventeen tedious years of development, Ray, based on Charles?? life, does not muster any semblance of the splendor within his music. The film lacks emotional attachment on any level and fails in every way as a meaningful addition to his life and legacy. With a mix of deceitful, manipulative Hollywood storytelling techniques masquerading as artistic strokes and tacky, unfocused, pop filmmaking, director Taylor Hackford manages to turn an amazing story of sheer will triumphing over adversity into a two-and-a-half hour mess that will damage Charles?? memory...
Jamie Foxx, star of Ray, has received considerable Oscar buzz for his almost perfect portrayal of Ray Charles??and deservedly so. From the close-eyed, contorted face that seems to interpret the world with tactile emotion to the quick paced, pitch-perfect, squeaky southern drawl, Foxx has Charles dead on. But with a script devoid of any genuine emotion, and a filmmaker who isn’t quite sure what he’s doing, Foxx’s performance does not resonate. It bears a greater resemblance to a three hour-long impression rather than an Oscar...
While most viewers under the age of 30 will know Ray Charles for his dirge-like rendition of “America the Beautiful,” or for his shiny-suit stint in a series of Pepsi commercials, Charles?? history is anything but clean. It is certainly not the stuff of our morally-obsessed pop culture. Throughout the film, we see Charles smoke his first joint (which he got from a midget, by the way), sleep with countless women, become a heroin junkie, and systematically, one by one, alienate every person who ever gave a damn about...
Similarly schizophrenic direction is scattered throughout the entire film: the camera stays almost exclusively in extreme close or medium-close shots in order to provoke an ultimately false sense of intimacy and the film frequently inter-cuts between Charles?? sketchy adult life and the recording or performance of some of his biggest hits in an effort to exploit the emotion of Charles?? songs. But there is nothing but distance in Ray; the disruption in tone caused by the frequent comic interludes undermines our ultimate attachment to these characters...