Thank you for the music - but what about the rest?

Rating: 6/10 (27 August 2005)

If making biopics is a tricky business, then making biopics about artists is just about the pinnacle of that difficult process. This is primarily because of a phenomenon that could be called "media interference", whereby the works of the artist portrayed tend to dominate the film to the extent that the rest of the story appears leached of the thrills and insight that great cinema should offer.
While "Ray" takes a stab at balancing the remarkable and heart-rending music of its subject with the remarkable and heart-rending life that he lived, the latter inevitably comes out second best. And undoubtedly Ray Charles himself would have been happy to see how completely his art (i.e. the musician's) managed to transcend this attempt to present his life in cinematic form.
The music in "Ray" is marvelous, as is Jamie Foxx's portrayal of the man himself. But his drug addiction is treated in an unconvincing manner, as are his extra-marital affairs and his involvement in the civil rights movement. A comparison with Michael Mann's biopic on Mohammed Ali (2001) is perhaps instructive here. Because whereas "Ray" tries to run through the whole shebang (admittedly cutting short in the mid-sixties), the Ali film focuses on a few years. Due to this focus it also packs a bigger punch, going deeply into Ali's politics and family relationships. But in "Ray", political awareness takes the form of the singer changing his mind about playing a gig to a segregated audience at the last moment, while drug addiction is something that he picks up in a highway restroom. The problem is these things don't seem to connect to the rest of his life or his art, they're just pieces of the man. It is only in the music that he comes together, but elsewhere in the movie there's no convincing explanation for how this nervous chattering blind guy with a funny voice (at least when he talked) turned out to be one of the greatest artists of the American Century.
So, if you want to hear some great music, go and buy a few Ray Charles records. If you want to see a great biopic, try "Ali" or "The Aviator". Ray will entertain, but the satisfaction it offers is musical, not cinematic.