Near the Top

Rating: 8/10 (4 February 2005)

What's the best biopic you've ever seen? Quick, answer. Tick tock. Can't think of anything? The Aviator? Ali? Coal Miner's Daughter? Yeah, that's not a very impressive list. "What's Love Got to Do With It?" is the best I can think of, but then, I haven't seen every movie ever made. Adding "Ray" to the list, it ranks near the top, but then, it wasn't a very accomplished category to begin with.
"Ali" was not a great film. Let's get that out of our heads right now. Will Smith is charismatic and great IN it, but the story the filmmakers chose to tell was an incomplete one, beginning after he was already five minutes from the top of his game, and ending thirty years before the hype did. The non-Smith performances were weak and unmemorable; the reach of the film extended its grasp. This is how history will remember that film, if history remembers it at all.
In my cynicism, I WANT to say the exact same things about "Ray." I can't, of course, because the movie is better than that... amazing how it managed to meet expectations and exceed them a the exact same time.
Ray Charles had a different way of speaking, a cadence to him. He'd lean back, he'd sway from side to side, his entire body would move even when he wasn't playing piano. This was not because he was blind, but after watching the movie I still couldn't tell you why he carried himself like he did. I know more about what HAPPENED to him, but not one iota about WHY he made the choices he made. Sure, he got hooked on heroin and had a thing for many (hot) women. He's human. But the personal choices, like why he stayed with certain certain people, chose this song instead of that one, that sort of thing. Blank slate, man. Blank slate.
But the movie is good. It's watchable, it's charismatic, it floats along with a breeze both light and dark that makes the film eminently watchable. The actors are more charismatic and memorable than the rogue's gallery of "Ali," as director (and co-screenwriter) Taylor Hackford recognizes that making Charles the sole focus of the story is a bad idea. You get to spend significant time with others in his life even if, as mentioned, you don't necessarily get to learn much about them.
Ironically, Foxx was actually IN "Ali," and I can't recall if his performance actually stood out, or if I was just watching him more closely because I knew he was five minutes from becoming the biggest star in the world. But 3 years have passed since "Ali," and I can't remember a single thing about it except Smith's accent, and its stilted timeline. Three years from now, I'll remember "Ray" for the style, the smile, the music, the attention to detail (of the times, not just the profession of its subject), and a wonderful ensemble cast for whom I wish only good things (Kerry Washington deserves her own movie).
When Taylor Hackford is on, he's on-- witness "Devil's Advocate," or "An Officer and a Gentleman." When he's not, we get "Dolores Claiborne." I'd love to say it's because he's the superior writer, but then, Michael Mann did indeed write "Heat," one of those rare films where everything goes not just right, but right plus ten.
The reasons for all this? We don't know. But "Ray" captures them better than any biopic in recent memory, even if it doesn't dig quite deep enough into them. I can't complain. You, won't either. 8/10.