You Go! Ray!

January 23rd, 2005

People say eyes are the windows to one’s mind, but in this movie, you can still see the mind of Ray Charles without reading his eyes. (I can not believe I have spent 2 1/2 hours on the movie, time flies just faster than it does when I saw Lord of Rings). If I were in the theater, I’d give this movie a standing ovation.

Jamie’s performance in the movie is stunning in playing this legendary artist(now I have to decide which is the best movie /actor of the year, this or Million Dollar Baby/Clint Eastwood). Reading some trivia of these movie, Jamie used the medicine in his eyes so that he was really a blind man in the movie; he worked with the real “Ray” for years so that he can walk/smile/sing like him in the movie; he even learned how to play Piano in this movie! I can barely tell any differences from the real Ray when I watched the ending documentary trailer (photos etc). “Ray” is one fine example of good biography movie, and it also puts Jamie in the same category of all around actors, like Tom Hanks.

About the movie itself, it is a very stylish movie, it uses the flashback of Ray’s childhood to connect and redirect the story development. The memory of the childhood, the words of Mom and his brother helps Ray to fight two major issues in life: Adultery and Drug. Those flashbacks really connected very well the real Ray and child Ray.

This is a very insprising film and it touches just almost everybody’s soul, it tells what you get do when you face setbacks and adversities in your life. And you need a good coach (like Ray’s mom or his wife), who may sounds cruel, but there words or actions can be truely the turning point for you. This movie is like those classical movies like Forest Gump, and Saving private ryan, it will stick in your mind for a long time.

Entry Filed under: movies