Taylor Hackford
Ray

LA RECENSIONE

A film you'll love or hate, but you can't remain indifferent. A film that moves, that captivates both for the admirable performance and the music.

I'm talking about "Ray", the 2005 film about the life of the African American singer Ray Charles, played by Jamie Foxx. Born in 1930 under the name Ray Charles Robinson, a laundress mother manages daily life to support not only him but also a little brother, George, who died very young after falling into the soda tub, a death that little Ray witnessed helplessly. From this, years later, would come his in my opinion most beautiful song, "Georgia on my mind." Blind since the age of seven from glaucoma, he learned to play the piano, a constant instrument in the life of the African American community along with the blues, from a blind neighbor.

The film follows, I don’t want to spoil it all for you, up to The Genius's detoxification from heroin. "Ray" tells the trials of a man, naive, cheated by his first manager who exploited his talent without giving him his due, a slave to drugs, with many fears. But a talent and a capacity to feel the audience, to feel the soul of his interlocutors, truly amazing. A talent that developed despite blindness or perhaps because of it, and Ray Charles acquired the ability to "feel" with his soul the piano and its notes. The great musician, singer, composer, incredible improviser, was masterfully portrayed by Jamie Foxx, who managed to recreate for us (for those who don't have memories of Ray Charles), an extraordinary man. Almost making us believe we see him indeed, in the moving moment when he refuses to perform in the state of Alabama because, with segregation in place, people of color would not have been able to go see him. And he wanted to reach everyone's heart. Personally.

A moving, thrilling film, filled with breathtaking musical sequences. A must-see.