As expected in these kinds of diva-oriented biopics, the rest of the cast is a reliable assembly of character actors and familiar faces that runs together and mostly exists to give something off of which for Foxx to play. The cast includes Kerry Washington as his long-suffering wife, Regina King and Aunjunae Ellis as two of mistresses, Clifton Powell and Harry Lennix as his managers, and various other reliables as managers, producers, executives, doctors, and childhood versions of grown-up characters. Rare is the movie biography that gives us Salieri as well as Mozart, or Omar Bradley as clearly as George Patton.
Part of why “Ray” is so vivid is the expense of its production design. Polish cinematographer Pawel Edelman (“The Pianist”) paints Ray’s childhood in bright orange dirt, jade grass, and a sea-colored sky. Ray’s life on the road is hard grey edges, sharp beams of light cutting through clouds of cigarette smoke, and sweat glistening on dark skin in the days before air conditioning. There’s no diplomatic way to say this, so I’ll just say it outright: a good cinematographer knows to shoot whites and blacks differently, and Edelman excels in how well he makes us feel the sweaty discomfort of tour buses, of jackets and ties in stiff night heat. All the clothes, cars, and streets feel just right as well. A cynic could say it takes an established white director (in this case, Hackford of “The Devil’s Advocate”) to acquire the resources to make a giant film about a black celebrity, and there’s some truth to that. But that’s fitting, too, because Charles seemed to know exactly how much help he needed to get from the establishment.
Finished Monday, January 31st, 2005
Copyright © 2005 Friday & Saturday Night
Page one of "Ray" (2004). Back to home.