Director: Taylor Hackford
Year Released: 2004
Rating: 1.5
Routine biopic of pianist Ray Charles Robinson with the usuals: childhood trauma(s), drug problem, women problems, social problems all following the path to "greatness" (from obscurity to meeting people you'll need later to getting stepped on to eventual acceptance). But it's clearly missing a third act (or, more accurately, the third act is really a mess) - Hackford turns up the Trainspotting junk withdrawal and racism to compensate for the fact that after a certain point in Charles' life, things stopped "being interesting," so 1970 onward consists of title cards and, of course, "Georgia On My Mind" as the final song (it's so obviously beautiful it can't not end the movie). Jamie Foxx's bundle of ticks and marble-mouthed dialogue adds up to a very good performance - it's almost uncanny (and he can play piano!) - but Hollywood cinema, as slick as it is, demands squeezing real-life stories into Horatio Alger plot trajectories, losing the impulsiveness of life: it's technique but no heart.
