Ray

Excellent movie

Rarely as in “Ray” does a movie transport the viewer this deep into the visceral experience of the arc of a talented, but tempted and troubled genius from origin to discovery, success, decline, failure, redemption, and finally to legacy. I’m sure it took nothing short of the most talented screenwriters and production artists to make it happen, but it wouldn’t have happened without the deservedly Oscar-winning performance of Jamie Foxx as Ray Charles. If there is a better biopic of a musical legend, I haven’t yet seen it.

Ray is a 2004 film based on the true story of Rhythm & Blues Musician Ray Charles Robison raised on a sharecropping plantation in Northern Florida and went blind at the age of 7 shortly after seeing his younger brother drowning in a small washing tub , inspired by his hard working mother who insisted he makes his own way into the world and learned piano at an early age from a local and grew up to be a pretty good piano , keyboard player touring chitlin circuit till he gained a reputation making it world wide playing and singing classics that are played on the radio today : Rhythm & Blues , Jazz , Rock & Roll , Gospel and Country .I bought the DVD when first released from Amazon and now again on Blu Ray for an Excellent price just under $ 8 dollars and recently upgraded to a 65 inch Sony 4K TV with an Excellent picture , A film directed and intro by Taylor Hackford with an Excellent performance by Cast especially Jamie Foxx did such a great job acting and playing the piano just like the real Ray with special features and interview with the real Ray and Jamie Fox with complete music performances from the movie including Ray & Raelettes performing Hit The Road Jack , Stepping into the part , A revealing look at Jamie Foxx's transformation into Ray Charles including a Jam session between the actor and the real Ray , Ray Remembered : Friends & Fellow musicians remember Ray Charles . Feature commentary with director Taylor Hackford , A look inside Ray , The Filmmakers Journey , The Woman of Ray and Ray and American Story , Ray is an Excellent Movie for a Great Price .

Have watched many, times. It's fabulous

My rating is more of a 3.5Thanks for reading!𝑨𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒆.𝑵𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒍𝒆𝒕 𝒏𝒐𝒃𝒐𝒅𝒚 𝒐𝒓 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒏𝒐 𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒑𝒑𝒍𝒆Ray is a 2004 American biographical musical drama film focusing on 30 years in the life of rhythm and blues musician Ray Charles.The independently produced film was co-produced and directed by Taylor Hackford, and written by James L. White from a story by Hackford and White. It stars Jamie Foxx in the title role, along with Kerry Washington, Clifton Powell, Harry Lennix, Terrence Howard, Larenz Tate, Richard Schiff and Regina King in supporting roles.Partially due to inevitable time constraints and the need for a reasonable center of contact: it is not uncommon for biopics to sacrifice the representation of key figures in an individual’s life that might better contextualize an ongoing pattern of behavior.Despite what impression 𝑹𝒂𝒚 might want viewers to get from watching, Charles’ upbringing was curdled with controversy and child-rearing methods that weren't necessarily the most consistent. Prior to being born his biological mother, Aretha, was informally adopted by a Bailey Robinson and his wife, Mary Jane.Aretha was impregnated by Bailey a few years afterwards when she was fifteen, and this scandalous affair ended with a temporary migration to Albany, Georgia from Greenville, Florida so she could be with family; she returned to Florida shortly after Ray was born on September 23, 1930.Bailey abandoned his family for the purposes of marrying another woman elsewhere before Ray was even a year old, and Mary Jane remained involved as a parental figure as much as she could because around this time she had also lost a son of her own. It is noted that as far as ‘indulgences’ go Aretha was much less likely to spoil Ray than Mary Jane, but the former went to great lengths to seek out resources in her community that could better assist her son because his vision started to deteriorate when he was about four and was completely gone by the time he was seven. Help would be provided in the form of the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind (FSDB) in St. Augustine, and this was particularly valuable as a tuition-free option that was willing to accept a blind African American pupil. 𝑹𝒂𝒚, while it teases the versatility of Charles as a master of composition, somehow still undermeans his aptitude and his experiences as a student there that shaped his abilities: it is true that Ray was partial to the piano and played it the most often, however, while in attendance at FSDB from 1937 to 1945 he also learned how to proficiently play the alto, saxophone, clarinet, and trumpet.𝑹𝒂𝒚 very intentionally chooses to focus on the death of a younger brother, George, as a trauma that would follow Charles through the entirety of his adult life, and given its theatrical appeal is a justifiable decision (Though, it should be said, that Ray tried to save George and didn’t just idly witness his drowning) though the death of Aretha (From a heart attack) has been recalled as much more devastating for him. It was so calamitous, in fact, that her death made Charles decide to drop out of school (Something that doesn’t go mentioned in 𝑹𝒂𝒚 as even a point of irony, since he was sent away to FSDB for educational purposes) and pursue a career as a musician using whatever resources were found to be at his disposal.Ignoring for the extent to which recreational substance use was normalized by his peers, missing in 𝑹𝒂𝒚 are internalized components that might better inform audiences as to what Charles thought he had to gain from the use of mind-altering substances: mainly, heroin and marijuana. Besides its likely use as a way of coping with the loss of Aretha and George, Charles always faced immense pressure to be the “trendsetter” regardless of who he performed with, and it speaks volumes that when asked about his ‘creative process’ throughout the years that Ray would attribute much of his ingenuity to intoxication in some measure. Even after quitting the use of heroin successfully he didn’t become some poster child for sobriety, as the last half of his life he was known to be a heavy drinker and functioning alcoholic.Just speaking on the sensitivity it requires, it makes total sense that 𝑹𝒂𝒚 is particular about the scenes within it that involve drug use as they could paint a less-than respectable image. That said, it is much too eager to be pivoted by some stroke of redemption as illustrated by the truth about two key interactions in its screenplay. Firstly, the death of Margie Hendricks (Which happened about ten years after what is depicted) was not found to be definitely caused by an overdose, but was rather more prone to gossip or speculation than suggested as an autopsy was never performed on her. Secondly, his eventual commitment to rehab was more-so influenced by a desire to avoid being incarcerated as opposed to any involving the well-being of his own family.(#Funfact: Outside of the obvious complication that might come with being honest about Charles’ substance use in general - ie, the incidental glorification of it - Hackford wanted to do more with this element specifically but an unexpected demand made doing so impossible. Producer Anschutz (One of the few people that wanted to provide financial assistance to begin with) demanded that 𝑹𝒂𝒚 be appropriate enough to acquire a PG-13 rating, and this reduced the degree to which they could even be a topic of conversation)Given Charles' blindness in combination with his compromised education it is perhaps easy to suggest he was in a position to be exploited early on in the context of business-related arrangements, but predatory management proved to be the least of his concerns, if not much less than what 𝑹𝒂𝒚 insulates to have been the case.To be a performer during the time Charles became known was to knowingly play along with the Jim Crow tune as race relationship played a significant role in employment opportunities, and with it came a certain amount of social responsibility that could be ignored by privileged individuals for monetary gain.It is true that Charles refused to play (When it was requested he do so via a telegram from a Civil Rights group) a specific event that took place in Augusta, Georgia in 1961 upon finding out its audience would be segregated, but neglected is emphases on the fact that he was one of the 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 performers to openly defy such practices. This inspired and set a very clear precedent for highly-requested performers that weren’t even from the United States that traveled there (IE, The Beatles) to do the same.Additionally, Ray was never actually officially banned from playing in the state of Georgia after this event though it did result in a lawsuit, and this made him feel “unwelcome” for some time after the fact. Consequently provided by that would be room for 𝑹𝒂𝒚 to explore the psychological effect of being ‘betrayed’ by his birth place even if Charles really did receive an official apology for this happening via public ceremony in 1979.All things considered, 𝑹𝒂𝒚 manages to hold its own head over water with a bit of testimonial appeal, focusing on key moments of his life where a song could be a hypothetical response to distress though the circumstances surrounding their creation is obviously much more nuanced. Ray’s eventual success was intimately tied to his knowledge that concerns the combination of various sounds: something that empowered him to mix genres in a novel manner as he knew how to play to the strengths of music that had already been produced so as to modernize its flow to a larger audience.Though it likely could have, Foxx’s performance does not feature his own vocals (All of the singing heard is Ray’s with Foxx pantomiming to a tee), but his commitment by way of impression is really only the tip of the iceberg; he was fitted with prosthetics that essentially kept his eyes glued shut on set for what was sometimes fourteen hours at a time, and all of the piano playing (So, playing done while his eyes would have been prevented from opening) is his own.It need not be said that mainstream biopics really shouldn’t be taken at face value to begin with, and their containability is a side-effect of deception that can serve a greater purpose. For all that it is worth, Charles himself was asked for his opinion about 𝑹𝒂𝒚’s screenplay prior to the start of its production, and with the exception of two scenes that he asked be omitted he approved it as glossed memorabilia that he hoped could be used as another way to remember him after his eventual passing.Ray’s artistic influence continues to live on in musicians whose styles vary broadly, and a glance into the more turbulent years of his life with a topical generosity may be the very least he deserves, after all. Ray Charles died on June 10th, 2004 as a result of liver failure (Which can be linked to his heavy drinking, as mentioned earlier), commenting shortly beforehand that if he had known he would live longer than he had expected to he would have taken better care of himself.Unfortunately, he was subsequently unable to be present during the final screening of 𝑹𝒂𝒚 and its official premiere, missing both by mere months: making it an incidentally well-timed eulogy that is quite simply doing its best.

The movie Ray Charles is musically explosive! Great movie. Ray had a sad childhood. And his mother died way too young. She didn’t get to see her son become successful nor did she get to enjoy his prosperity. Nothing is more sad. No wonder he ended up using drugs to try to escape his deep seated pain! He ended up marrying a great Christian woman. I LOVED this movie! First time I saw it was 12/25/2022. This movie is great! It will make you cry, laugh and sing! Triple whammy. I grew up in San Francisco and saw RC live in the city I was born in and love. Jamie Foxx and Kerry Washington should have won an Academy Award for great acting! Ray Charles will always be the “King of Blues & Gospel!” He had God given talent. Like the best of us singers.