We rented this yesterday. I was just wondering if anyone else thought that it was terrible how they focused on the years when Ray was on heroin and being unfaithful to his wife, and then summed up the last 40 years of his life in two paragraphs that flashed on the screen. I mean, I understand that they wanted to show how he came about in the business and such, but I thought that some of it was just gratuitous. Oh, and the movie was loooooong, so I figure that if they can spend 2 1/2 hours chronicalling his drug use and womanizing, then they can give at least 15 minutes to show that the man had more accomplishments after he kicked heroin. I mean, they make it seem as though his career after he got sober wasn't important enough to make it into the movie, and I think that is a terrible message. What about you guys? Can you put a different perspective on this for me? Thanks.
no, i haven't seen it yet, but your review does make it sound bad? i'm not sure about his musical history, but i wonder if he wrote his best stuff during those years? guess i'll have to rent it and watch it. respect your opinion though.
That movie made me want to do heroin....but not really. I thought that the movie was very good. I didn't know anything about his background and I was very surprised to see some of the things that took place during his life. I understand what you are saying about how the movie really focussed on his junkie ways, but while that was going on he was creating great music and it showed through the performances during the film. It just goes to show that not everyone who is famous lives the perfect life.
Yes, I see what you are saying. I don't want to sound like I thought it was a bad movie or anything like that. I mean, it wasn't my favorite, but I would watch it again. And I think that if you are going to tell someone's story you should put in the details about their life, such as drugs and what-not. The thing that bothered me was that they seemed to concentrate an awful lot on those aspects and then incorporated the performances into that, instead of the other way around. For anyone that hasn't seen it, I'm not saying no to, believe me. Go ahead and rent it. It's filled with great music, and the story really is cool. Be prepared, though, because it's looooong.
I finally rented this movie and I liked it overall, but after watching it I see your point on how they reflected on his drug use, but a lot of people didnt know that about him. I also didnt realize that he was sort of a mean guy.
His drug abuse was really emphasized throughout the movie. However, I'm guessing that it was intentional because it led up to one trip/dream when his mom made him stop. No one else could get him to stop except for her, and I think the director wanted to emphasize how much of an influence she was on him. "Ray" is worth viewing for Jamie Foxx's performance alone. It is unbelievable what he went through to make that movie. And yes, that is really Jamie playing piano in every musical scene. He also had his eyes glued shut for about 16 hours per day just so that he could get more in touch with Ray's character. Oh, and he intended classes at the Braille Institute just to observe other blind peoples' mannerisms, again to add to Ray's character. Amazing, huh? He deserved that Oscar.
I thought the movie was great. If they just focused on him suceeding after heroine, that would be boring. Life is full of struggle and hardships and so we were shown what he had to go through. In a movie, and in life, there always has to be conflict and loss. This is what makes the movie interesting. The movie was great.
It's a movie, not a documentary... You can't expect it to chronicle every aspect of his life in the same detail, otherwise it'd be like 6 hours long.. They highlighted the areas where they could get the most dramatic effect, like any movie, especially a biopic would. I thought it was a decent effort.. I might watch it again sometime in the future, but it's nothing i'd rush to see again..
I rented it a few weeks back and it was a really great movie...i rented it agian so my folks could watch it with me...watched it like five times....they did make him look like a bad guy with the heroin allthough at the end they said he never touched it again...which is suprising considering most heroin addicts do it again
I just recently watched on DVD. The DVD has all kinds of cool extra stuff as well as an extended version with all the deleted scenes added in. The behind the scenes extras show the first meeting and jam session between Jamie Foxx and Ray Charles in 2002. Ray was deeply involved in the films development and filmmaking process so it wasn't like the director set out to portray Ray Charles as just a womanizing junkie. Ray had a big say in how he was portrayed so perhaps he may have had his heroin addiction emphasized to warn people away from herion use. Over all I think that this is one of the best pieces of acting I've ever scene. Jamie Foxx certainly deserved his Oscar Award, it too bad that Ray Charles couldn't have been alive to be there for Jamie's award. A Ray Charles/Jamie Foxx jam at the Oscars woulda been pretty cool.
