Good movie

Rating: 7/10 (19 June 2017)

Generally a very good biopic of a truly gifted artist. The cinematography, locations, lighting and costumes are lush. Even the grotty hotels are richly-lit and full of character. Charles's childhood in Florida, seen in flashback, comes across as a bit of a movie set, but it does clearly put across how very young, but strong and determined his mother, Aretha, was. Even when Ray goes blind at age 7, she urges him to never be "a cripple" - to think of himself as a worthy person and strive to make his way in the world. She only sends him off to boarding school from a passionate belief that education is the key to his success. And she was right. With acute hearing and memory, he could get around without a cane or a guide dog. Still, when he travels right across the US to Seattle to join a band, you get the sense of how very brave he was. Fortunately, that amazing talent was a force to be reckoned with. Jamie Foxx is the perfect actor to play Charles - convincing in every way. Of course a big highlight is that muscly soul music. I most enjoyed the live concert scenes, big and small, where the audience and the musicians feed off each other, everyone having a wonderful time. The drug use and the womanizing are given ample screen time, but the characters involved are always depicted as human, i.e. very flawed, rather than evil. Overall, Ray Charles triumphed in life. His mother would be very proud.