Movie: Ray

Saw Saturday matinee with Lynae at AMC Barywoods theater.
In Ray, Jamie Foxx bore a striking resemblance to Ray Charles. I am reminded of Oliver Stone's movie, "The Doors", in which a Doors band member spoke of how Val Kilmer so much resembled Jim Morrison that it was spooky. I don't know too much about Ray Charles, but from what I know, I wouldn't have known it was an actor in the movie if I didn't know Ray had died earlier this year.

The movie itself was entertaining. These types of movies are called biopics, I guess for epic biographies. Biopics are limited somewhat if they are going to be true to the protagonist of the story. There is not as much room for creativity. So, at times, the movie seemed dry, or drawn out. However, I would rather a biopic get the facts right than manipulate them for entertainment's sake.

It was a rather long movie, clocking in at over two hours. Still, I was disappointed that it wasn't a little bit longer so that more could have been communicated about Ray's later life. The movie narrative stopped virtually in about 1969, or thereabout. What about the last 30+ years of Ray's life, where he was clean from heroin. While I applauded the effort to look at his heroin addiction and infidelity honestly, his life continued after he kicked these habits. It would have been nice to see some narrative from this time period. Also, I would have liked to have seen what became of some of the other characters, such as his "bosses" at his first record company, and his manager Jerry.