Ray (2004)

I finally caught up with this film yesterday which won a best actor Oscar for Jamie Foxx and was about to post my reaction afterwards, when I realised that I didn't really have much to say.  So I decided to sleep on it and see how I felt today, but frankly my reaction is not much clearer.  Perhaps the simple answer is that I have reached satiation point in seeing actors rewarded for impersonating real people, however well they do it, when the people in question are sufficiently recent to remain in memory.  I've not seen "Capote" yet but suspect that however spot-on Hoffman's recreation is that I will still react with a "so what".   Yes, Foxx does a wonderful rendering of Ray Charles to the extent of sealing his eyes to really appear blind; he apparently plays the piano himself but lip-syncs to Charles's voice.  However I still wonder at the director's persistence in bringing the performer's story to the screen.  What we have is the usual overcoming of obstacles -- not just his blindness -- on the road to becoming an icon; but we are also presented with a not particularly nice person whose saving grace remains his talent.  After some two and a half hours, the viewer is exhausted and feels that he has travelled this road many times before.