这是一部传记电影。雷•查尔斯(杰米•福克斯 Jamie Foxx 饰)出生在一个贫穷的黑人家庭,因缺乏必要医疗条件,年少的查尔斯就因青光眼丧失了视力。然而,在母亲言传身教下,小查尔斯没有从此自暴自弃,而是很快熟悉了盲文,并通过盲文接触了他人生的第一个乐谱。
查尔斯很快就在音乐上展现出了他过人的天赋。他的很多乐器演奏功力早已超出了很多视力正常的音乐家的高度。
母亲过世后,年少的查尔斯辍学开始了他的巡回演唱会。60年代,他带来了他独创的将乡村、爵士、管弦和教会音乐融合为一体的骚灵音乐,引起了音乐界巨大的反响……
by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Unlike the soundtrack for his Jerry Lee Lewis biopic Great Balls of Fire, director Taylor Hackford didn't have Ray Charles re-record his classic songs for the soundtrack of his Charles biopic, Ray! Instead, he selected 17 songs of Ray at his '50s and '60s peak, skillfully balancing selections from both Atlantic and ABC to create a surprisingly successful and thoroughly entertaining overview. While 17 tracks can't contain all of his best work -- there's not too much of his jazz playing and just a little bit of his country-soul recordings, plus singles from "Lonely Avenue" to "Busted" are MIA -- it does hit all of the best-known songs ("I Got a Woman," "(Night Time Is) The Right Time," "Georgia on My Mind," "Hit the Road Jack"), mixing in a couple of relatively obscure tracks (such as barnburning, transcendent early R&B cut "Mess Around") and adding excellent live renditions of such staples as "Hallelujah I Love Her So," "What'd I Say," and "I Can't Stop Loving You." The end result may not be definitive, but it surely is a good introduction that will no doubt whet the appetites of listeners who were turned onto Ray Charles because of Hackford's film.