RAY

US, 2004, 146 minutes, Colour.
Jamie Foxx, Regina King.
Directed by Taylor Hackford.

In a year of biopics (Howard Hughes, The Aviator; Kinsey, J. M. Barrie, Finding Neverland), Taylor Hackford has made a biography of and tribute to blind musician and activist, Ray Charles.

The framework of the film is chronological (naming dates and places), from 1948 when Ray was 18 and leaving home to play in Seattle to the mid-1960s when he went into drug rehabilitation and turned around his life. There is a postscript set in 1979 when the ban on his appearing in concert in the state of Georgia (in 1961 when he refused to play to segregated audiences) was revoked and he received a tribute and a welcome.

However, there are numerous flashbacks to his childhood punctuating the narrative and giving visual insight into the lyrics of some of his most popular songs. We are given glimpses of his childhood poverty and his strong washerwoman mother, his being paralysed during the drowning of his younger brother, his gradually going blind as a child and his mother's ways of training him to fend for himself.

The Ray Charles story is not all that different from stories of other black entertainers like Billie Holiday or the Turners. He has to fend for himself despite his blindness. He is introduced to heroin early and refuses to acknowledge his dependency. While he marries his sweetheart and loves her and his children, he is a womaniser, and has a long relationship with one of his back-up singers. This is a sympathetic portrait, but it is also warts and warts, especially in the 1960s when he is a success and he becomes more ruthless in his business dealings.

But what Ray Charles loved more than anything else was his music. Capable of imitating any style, he aped Nat King Cole and other singers until he was urged to find his own voice. He moved through jazz, gospel, rhythm and blues to his own style of communicating and his versions of classics. He is seen as a pioneer in the development of American music in the middle of the 20th century. There is a wide selection of his songs, from his records, during the film.

One of the main reasons for the success of Ray is the uncanny performance and impersonation by Jamie Foxx. Winner of many awards (in a year which saw his strong performance in Collateral), he is a convincing Ray Charles in all his facets, good and bad, weak and strong.

1. The acclaim for the film, performances? awards? Audience knowledge of Ray Charles?

2. Ray Charles, his career, his personality, music, the finale and his contribution to good causes?

3. The period, the 1940s to the 1970s? The re-creation of each decade, its look? The worlds of each decade? Florida and the young Ray, the black town? Seattle and the 1940s? Los Angeles and the 1950s? The 1960s and 1970s and Ray Charles on tour? His growing affluence?

4. The music, Charles and the piano and style, the records? Insertion of songs in the screenplay?

5. The title, the focus on Ray, Ray Robinson becoming Ray Charles? The explanation for his blindness? His reliance on sounds? His being on his own – the strong force of his mother? The opening, the bus driver, the racist attitudes, Normandy and his accepting him?

6. The inserts about his childhood, his mother and her washing, the two boys, learning to read, the mother’s anger with her harsh treatment? The brothers and their playing, the tub, George and his going into the tub, drowning? Ray stunned and not doing anything?

7. Ray’s memories, especially of water, the hand in the suitcase of water, treading on water, his fears and panic? His own going blind, the gradual process, his mother explaining it to him, her supporting him? Her not helping him – his having to rely on himself? The drops, rubbing his eyes, his mother’s talk, taking steps by himself, self-supporting? Her telling him that he had lost his sight but was not stupid? Relying on memory? The importance of music, the church, the funeral?

8. Ray’s memories of music, the different styles over the decades, his own changes, the exuberant gospel, the employing of the Raylettes, jazz?

9. Florida and his leaving, his story to the bus driver, arriving in Seattle, the encounter with the young Quincy Jones (and later meeting him)? The club, Marlene giving him a chance, the audience dancing? Orlando and his introduction, helping him about the money fraud? The sexual dependence on Marlene? Performances, their swindling the money? Jack Lauderdale and the offer for records, better money, his splitting with Marlene?

10. The 1950s, the singers, the early records? The blues, the tours, buses, life and travel, the countryside, the accompanist? The continued issue of money, his being blind and swindled again? The food stops? The bathroom, the men taking drugs, Ray beginning his drug-taking?

11. The success of his career, the records, clubs and audiences appreciating him, the black audiences? Harlem 1952? The buying of contracts, five cents a record? Their continued money motivation? Ahmet and the deals, Jerry and his partnership? Their not wanting another Nat ‘King’ Cole? Ahmet playing ‘The Mess Around’ – and its continued success, radio interviews?

12. Meeting Beah, in the choir, having the coffee with her, the bird and his helping her to hear it? Her challenge about his music, walking with her, confiding about his life in her, the issue of gospel singing, her wariness, his asking the audience whether they approved – and they do? The marriage?

13. Atlanta, 1954, his becoming a star, Beah’s pregnancy? The new band?

14. Mary Anne as the singer, the audition, her strong personality, the beginning of the affair? The audition for the Raylettes, the back-up group, Marge and her attraction to him, mutual? The singing, Marge making the bargain about payment, the jealousies within the group?

15. Ray and his continuing to take heroin, Beah and her reaction, the birth of the child, joy, the child being able to see? The photos? The various tours, his coming back home, the birthday party and other celebrations?

16. Marge, her pushing herself on Ray, relating to him, affirming him? Mary Anne and the smashing of the windscreen? Marge singing more? Ahmet and the company, the warning about drugs?

17. 1959, the white audiences listening to him? The wealthy house in Los Angeles, Christmas and presents? Marge coming to Los Angeles? On the road, her seeing herself as Mrs Charles on the road, feelings of rejection, her drinking?

18. The new agent, ABC Paramount, the discussion of contracts, for Ray to produce his own records, the increasing amount of money? His cutting Ahmet and Jerry loose? Wanting his own master tapes? Sam Clark and the interviews with ABC? ‘Georgia On My Mind’? Newport 1961?

19. The range of characters working with Ray, his assistants, Jeff and the others? The issue of money deals?

20. His growing fame and wealth, Marge’s overdose, her baby, Beah knowing all about it, offering to send money, Ray weeping?

21. The new manager, his control over Ray, over the employees, their turning up late, the fines, Jeff and the issue of the past, their being sacked? The crisis?

22. Montreal 1965, the return to Boston, the Customs officers, searching the plane, finding the drugs? His hiding away? Beah and her telling him the truth, especially when he didn't come to his son’s game, the son’s trophy? The confrontation about the drugs?

23. Going into the clinic, the fluids, the nightmare images, his brother, his mother reappearing, his brother? The probation period, the doctor and the confrontation, his sense of failure, the water? His mother’s appearing and telling him that he still became a cripple? Hugging George, making the promise to his mother?

24. The epilogue to the film, Georgia and the state ban, segregated audiences and his refusal, 1979 and the freedom of the state, ‘Georgia On My Mind’ as the state’s song? The explanation of the next forty years, his career, without drugs, his charities, children and grandchildren? His saying to Beah that his mother was still there? The final collage of photos and music?