you'll cry, you'll laugh, you'll tap your toes

Rating: 8/10 (6 September 2005)

You really can't find a biopic much better than Ray. Beautifully written, beautifully directed, beautifully acted. Of course one hears the most about Jamie Fox's amazing performance. He does an incredible job of capturing Ray Charles. It's not just that he has Charles' movements down, but that rather than imitating them, he seem to feel them, to actually understand who Ray is and how he feels at his core. Charles is a complex man and Foxx shows you a complex figure; one tends to forget it's a performance and just think it is Charles. The rest of the cast is also uniformly excellent.
But this is not just a Foxx vehicle, the whole movie is beautifully crafted. The cinematography is gorgeous. The direction is flawless. THere are scenes that I thought were brilliant, like one in which the young Ray focuses on the sounds around him. It's pure craftsmanship, as you feel just what is happening. Charles' music is also used to wonderful effect. All-in-all, an amazing work.