| | | "HD-DVD, The Look & Sound of Perfect."
Features: DVD, Original, Theatrical Version, Dolby, Dolby Digital (5.1), English, Spanish
Nominated for 6 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Ray stars Oscar winner Jamie Foxx as the one-of-a-kind innovator of soul who overcame impossible odds to become a music legend. It's the triumphant and remarkable story of one of America's true musical geniuses, Ray Charles. "Ray is electrifying", hails Peter Travers of Rolling Stone. Witness the incredible true story of a musician who fought harder and went further than anyone could imagine.
"[Foxx's performance is] nothing short of remarkable, a tour de force." Kit Bowen, Hollywood.com
"A rangy, straightforward and entirely engrossing biopic." Todd McCarthy, Variety.com
"An extraordinary piece of biography." William Arnold, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Editor's Note
Jamie Foxx stars in this biopic of legendary soul and R&B singer Ray Charles. Skillfully edited and with a keen eye for period detail, the narrative weaves in and out of the past in an interlocking tapestry of the man's rise to fame in the 1950s and '60s. Growing up poor, black, and blind in the rural south, Charles learns--under the tutelage of his tough-love mother (Sharon Warren)--to turn these handicaps into assets. With this training, Ray eventually plays his way into a major deal with Paramount records and earns icon status as an American legend. Along the way, the high cost of fame leads him to engage in abusive relationships, manipulative behavior, and struggles with drug and alcohol problems. This is a dynamite film for the music alone (Charles's actual recordings are used in the film), but Foxx's career-benchmark performance transcends RAY's biopic roots, turning this into a piercing, full-on character study: unflinching, sometimes harrowing, and ultimately deeply moving. The sheer joy of Charles's music comes alive in Foxx's movements, and his character matures convincingly and powerfully. A stellar supporting cast is on hand to back him up every step of the way, including Larenz Tate as producer Quincy Jones, and Kerry Washington as Ray's long-suffering wife, Regina.
| Features | Audio: English, French Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound | | Cast & Filmmakers Biographies & Filmographies | | Deleted Scenes With Optional Audio Commentary By Director Taylor Hackford | | Dubbed: French | | Feature Audio Commentary With Director Taylor Hackford | | Featurette: Ray Remembered | | Interactive Menus | | Scene Selection | | Subtitles: English, French, Spanish |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Universal |
| Release Date: 1/22/2008 |
| Running Time: 153 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 2004 | | Catalog ID: 610306122 | | UPC: 00025193061225 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English, French Dubbed | | Available Subtitles: English, French, Spanish | | Video: Color |
Aspect Ratio | | Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1 |
| Cast & Crew
| Awards |
Winner (2005) | | | Oscar, Jamie Foxx, Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role | |
Nominee (2005) | | | Oscar, Taylor Hackford, Best Achievement in Directing | | | Oscar, Taylor Hackford, et. al., Best Motion Picture of the Year | |
Winner (2005) | | | Oscar, Scott Millan, et. al., Best Achievement in Sound | |
Nominee (2005) | | | Oscar, Sharen Davis, Best Achievement in Costume Design | | | Oscar, Paul Hirsch, Best Achievement in Editing |
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| | Professional Reviews | Rolling Stone
"Foxx's fierce, funny, deeply felt performance deserves to be legendary....Foxx rides this winner to glory." 11/11/2004 p.114New York Times
"[A] satisfying picture....[With] Mr. Foxx's inventive, intuitive, and supremely intelligent performance." 10/29/2004 p.E1 USA Today
"RAY could not have been made without star Jamie Foxx....His portrayal of Ray Charles is such a landmark in making the difficult look natural that you won't talk about anything else when you exit the theater." 10/29/2004 p.1E Los Angeles Times
"One of the striking things about RAY is the way Foxx's performance gives the uncanny impression of watching the real Charles reliving his life on screen. The actor makes us believe that what's in front of our eyes really happened." 10/29/2004 p.E1 Entertainment Weekly
"Foxx feels his way into every groove and tremor of that voice -- the sheer locomotive power of it, and the shades of gravelly tenderness, too." 11/05/2004 p.56 Movieline's Hollywood Life
[T]he musical numbers are superbly handled. The sound is extraordinary..." 12/01/2004 p.104 Uncut
"Built around a magnetic performance by Jamie Foxx....[He] brilliantly inhabits Ray's mannerisms..." 02/01/2005 p.100 Sight and Sound
"Foxx's performance is superb in its naturalism and meticulous in its attention to detail....The music provides the most straightforward pleasure in an enjoyable and straightforward film..." 02/01/2005 p.66-8 ReelViews 6 of 10
Taylor Hackford's Ray has a tremendous performance by Jamie Foxx and a soundtrack that is jammed with recordings by the late Ray Charles, but both work in service of a paint-by-numbers screenplay that runs too long and could have been developed in Biopic 101. This is a stagnant motion picture that runs out of energy well before the halfway point, then staggers through the seemingly interminable final hour...Some critics are being surprisingly kind to this movie, which may indicate that they're afraid criticism of the movie will somehow be seen as criticism of Ray Charles. Such thinking is flawed. Charles was a great artist; Ray is far from a great film. - James Berardinelli
Chicago Sun-Times 10 of 10
The movie would be worth seeing simply for the sound of the music and the sight of Jamie Foxx performing it. That it looks deeper and gives us a sense of the man himself is what makes it special...Taylor Hackford brings quick sympathy to Charles as a performer and a man, and we remember that he directed made Hail! Hail! Rock and Roll, a great documentary about Chuck Berry, a performer whose onstage and offstage moves more than braced Hackford for this film. Ray Charles was quite a man; this movie not only knows it, but understands it. - Roger Ebert
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