I saw"Ray" last night. It was good in parts..but left me feeling it was

[KoKo]

"formulaic." I think the scenes of his early childhood are beatiful and profound. The symbolism of the "sheets waving in the wind," the loss of his little brother which carried throughout his life and the movie seems to say was the "undercurrent" of his heroin use.

There's a moral there in the movie...but it lacked the portrayal of the "essence" of the times he lived in...and that made the movie very hollow for me. I think he was more complicated than the movie portrays.

For me the miniseries "The Temptations" captured the times and portrayed the group as more "REAL" than "Ray" did.

However, I thought Jimmy Fox did an excellent portrayal of Ray. I think the lack of putting Ray's life in context of his times..compared to his fellow African-American musicians was the bigges let down of the movie.

"The Temptations" caputured the times and what Af/Am musicians were faced with much more vividly and real and did it with style and taste and pizzazz better than the script and producers of "Ray" did.

I'm a huge Ray Charles fan. Saw him in person in his early days and grew up in the South...where "I Can't Stop Loving YOU" steamed up the windows on cars everywhere...

I think many would enjoy the movie....but those of us who lived through his "later times" (Hey I'm way younger than him...but know when he "changed his music") might find "Ray" kind of lacking. Particularly our Southern viewers of a "certain age."

[bettyellen]

1. I KISSED RAY ON MY BIRHTDAY 14 YEARS AGO

I SAW HIM AT THE BLUENOTE AND AFTER THE SHOW FOUND MYSELF WALKING DOWN THE HALL WITH HIM AS HE WAS TRYING TO LEAVE..... EVERYBODY WAS TRYING TO GET A WORD IN, AND I FINALLY AT THE LAST MOMENT I SAID THAT I LOVED HIS SHOW AND WANTED TO GIVE HIM A KISS.
HE SAID SURE HONEY. YOU GO RIGHT ON AHEAD! AND HE TILTED HIS CHEEK TOWARDS ME. THAT WAS SO COOL. HE WAS AN AMAZING TALENT.

[KoKo]

2. Saw him with the "Raylettes" in one of the controversial "Southern Swings"

shown in the movie. He was great...but I didn't get to see him in a "casual moment," like you did. Thanks for sharing that!

[msgadget]

3. The best thing about the movie was Fox's performance,

but the script was disappointing. However, I did leave the theater with a finer appreciation of Charles' music and accomplishments'.