"I hear you too Mama. You're right there."

Rating: 9/10 (10 April 2016)

The quote above references one of my favorite scenes from this marvelous film. It only lasts a couple of minutes, but encapsulates the tough-love that young Ray Charles' mother, played by Sharon Warren, uses to teach her sightless little boy how to use his other senses, including his hearing, to cope and to get around on his own. It is a heartbreakingly beautiful scene and is a fine example of how excellent direction, acting, cinematography, screen writing, editing and all technical aspects can come together to make a quality film.
This project was obviously a labor of love for director Taylor Hackford. His respect and admiration for his subject, rhythm-and-blues legend Ray Charles, is evident in every frame of this wonderfully insightful and entertaining musical biography.
That this film works splendidly is also a tribute to the talents and dedication of Jamie Foxx in the title role. He gives a magnificent performance and so thoroughly inhabits the character of Charles, that one forgets that one is watching a performance and is made to believe that that is Ray Charles himself up on the screen. It that isn't fine acting, I don't know what is. The supporting cast is also terrific and is highlighted by the amazing work of the actresses who portray the three key women in Charles' life. The are Regina King as his fiery lead singer and mistress, Kerry Washington as his strong, loving and loyal wife, and Sharon Warren (in her film debut!) as his tough-love mother who was more instrumental than anybody else in helping him overcome his disability.
The look of the film is unique and striking, with terrific photography, period footage and visual effects utilized to make this film just as special to look at as it is to listen to. The flashback scenes to Ray's youth are well-done and accentuate plot points perfectly.
The picture is chock-full of Charles' music and not only demonstrates his prolific and varied output, but the fantastic songs themselves are brilliantly utilized to drive the story forward. A fine example is scene in which the song "What Kind of Man Are You" is used to demonstrate the jealous rivalry between two of Ray's singers played by Aunjanue Ellis and Regina King. The fantastic "What'd I Say" number is also a wonderful scene and perfectly demonstrates how Charles' groundbreaking musical style revolutionized American music in the 1960's. The music is really the film's main star and contains many of Ray's hits as well as his not-so-well-known tunes. They also include the gospel-infused "I Got a Woman," the passionate "Mary-Ann," the rockin' "Hit the Road, Jack," the soulful "Unchain My Heart," and the sublimely beautiful "Georgia on My Mind."
Charles's drug addiction is not glossed over, but instead is front-and-center. We experience, and perhaps understand, his need to get high as well as his intense struggle to overcome his insidious heroin addiction.
The film is expertly made and is perfectly evocative of time and place. It is not only an outstanding musical-biography, but one of the great musical films of all time.