Ray
I know good advice when I see it, so we went out to see Ray tonight.
I’m almost ashamed to admit it, but I knew next to nothing about Ray Charles or his music before tonight. I never had any real exposure to his music, so I never knew what I was missing. I was missing a lot. Now I understand why he was almost universally called a genius, and I’ll spend the next weeks and months catching up on music that was ahead of its own time and laid the groundwork for much of today’s popular music.
As for the film, I’m still not sure if I’ve wrapped my brain around Jamie Foxx’ performance. Salon ran a piece about method acting today:
For instance, a man walks into a room from outside. A Method actor would ask, Where is the man coming from? How did he get here? Did he drive? Was there traffic? Did he walk? How far? Is it cold or hot out? Is this his home? Who else is in the room? Is the man glad to see those people or not? Is he alone? Is he expecting someone? All of those things affect how we would walk into a room in real life. The Method argues they should be no less considered when playing a character. In the most simplistic terms, it’s building a character from the inside out, finding an internal logic for external action.
Jamie Foxx absolutely built his portrayal of Ray Charles from the inside out. By necessity, the film is episodic, and it risks letting a Ray Charles neophyte (like myself) slip through the cracks. But Jamie Foxx fills in the gaps effortlessly, and I felt like I understood the breadth and depth of Ray Charles after spending less than three hours with him. There’s going to be stiff competiton for the Oscar for Best Actor in the next month, but I’d doubt if Paul Giamatti, Liam Neeson, or Johnny Depp have turned in performances like this one.
November 18, 2004 - 10:26 PM