Ray

Ok, so here we go, starting with Cole Porter's De-Lovely continuing to Bobby Darin's Beyond the Sea and finishing with Ray Charles's 'Ray'. What can I say? You all have seen these documentaries and biography flicks of recently or long deceased Music and Movie stars. I can't help to tell you that all of them look somehow the same. Most of them seemed to have a tough childhood and once they turn famous everthing is primarily sex, drugs & business. It's about being unfaithful to wives, betraying friends and somehow doing the all the same mistakes everyone else has done before. It usually ends with a painful death in tears or a long rehabilitation process, ending unkown.

Sadly I have to tell you that 'Ray' isn't different. Sure he is blind and minor details are different, like all the time, but if you take a real look into it there is nothing new about it. So there goes the storyline. Everything else about this movie nevertheless worked worked for me. As far as I can tell Jamie Foxx was able to imitate Ray Charles pretty perfectly, the music was nice and I learned a lot of things about Ray Charles that I didn't knew beforehand.

One thing I missed in the movie, was the youth of Ray Charles - e.g. how did he learn to play the piano? This wasn't answered at all but as it had nothing to do with sex & drugs it might have been to uninteresting for the filmmakers. Ok, I am being sarcastic, but it really is sad to see the same things all over again when there is potential for a little more in-depth informations.

Watching 'Ray' might be interesting for you in order to see a very good imitation of Ray Charles, it might also beinteresting for you in case you're a fan of Ray Charlse's but otherwise I don't see why you shouldn't rather go with the two movies I named before or e.g. The Doors. 'Ray' surely isn't a waste of time but it definitely is nothing new either.