[ThisWeek] Ray at the Kenworthy

[thisweek at kenworthy.org]

Welcome back for a great year at the Kenworthy Performing Arts Centre!

This week at the Kenworthy-

Ray (PG13)
Friday, January 7
7:00 PM
Saturday & Sunday, January 8 & 9
3:50 PM and 7:00 PM
$5 adults, $2 children 12 and younger
KFS passes accepted for Sunday movies
(See Review below)
* * *
Also in January at the Kenworthy Performing Arts Centre . . .

Enduring Love (R)
Jan 14 at 7PM
Jan 15 - 16 at 4:30 and 7PM

The Motorcycle Diaries (R)
Jan 21 at 7PM
Jan 22 - 23 at 6 4:15 and 7PM

Stage Beauty (R)
Jan 28 at 7PM
Jan 29 - 30 at 4:30 and 7PM

Regular Movie prices:  $5 adults, $2 children 12 and younger.
KFS passes accepted for Sunday movies

508 S. Main Street, Moscow, Idaho
For more information, call 208-882-4127 or visit www.kenworthy.org
* * *
This week¹s review-

Ray

Directed by Taylor Hackford;
Written by James L. White, based on a story by Mr. Hackford and Mr. White
Running time: 2 hours, 32 minutes
This film is rated PG-13(Parents strongly cautioned). It has sex, drug use
and some profanity.

As reviewed by A. O. Scott writing for the New York Times

³Portrait of Genius, Painted in Music²

When Ray Charles died in June, he had ascended to the most rarefied level of
fame; no longer merely a celebrity, he had become an institution. There is
no doubt that he deserved this status, or that he enjoyed it, but universal
esteem is not always a blessing for an artist.

Great popular art speaks for itself. "I'm not one to interpret my own
songs," Charles wrote in "Brother Ray," "but if you can't figure out 'What I
Say,' then something's wrong. Either that, or you've never heard the sweet
sounds of love." And "Ray," at its best, partakes of both the directness and
the incomparable sophistication of his music. Apart from the flashbacks to
Charles's youth in rural north Florida (where he was born Ray Robinson in
1930), the film concentrates on a two-decade span - roughly from the late
1940's until the mid-60's - during which he made his way from
rough-and-tumble clubs and chitlin'-circuit dance halls onto the top of the
pop and R&B charts.

Along the way, we get a sense of the fertility of African-American popular
culture in the era of segregation, and of the hustling, nickel-and-diming
and endless negotiating that permeated all levels of the music business.
Musical genius that he was, Ray Charles was also a sharp businessman. His
experience taught him to be tough, ruthless and suspicious of everyone,
traits that Mr. Foxx presents without apology.

"Ray" while not a great movie, is a very good movie about greatness, in
which celebrating the achievement of one major artist becomes the occasion
for the emergence of another. I'm speaking of Ray Charles and Jamie Foxx, of
course, though at this point I'm not entirely sure I can tell them apart.

As reviewed by Mick LaSalle writing for the San Francisco Chronicle

It takes all of five seconds, tops, to believe that Jamie Foxx is the young
Ray Charles. In "Ray," a warts-and-all musical biography of the late
entertainer, Foxx gives a complicated portrait of a man who grew up poor and
blind and found his way to the pinnacle of stardom and esteem. According to
"Ray," he didn't do it by smiling and being a nice guy. He did it by smiling
and being cold-blooded, as well as prodigiously talented.

Foxx not only captures the essence of Charles' exterior but suggests his
psychological structure, as well. Acting is usually all about looking the
other actor in the eye and responding honestly, but as Ray, Foxx has the
handicap of having to act with eyes closed. He uses this to his advantage,
suggesting that Ray's blindness contributed to an eerie distance in his
personal dealings. At key moments, without looking perturbed or concerned --
as if almost muttering to himself -- Ray is shown cutting loved ones out of
his life. He doesn't see the pained faces. It's just one less voice in the
room. 

Ray's saving grace is his courage. When we meet him, he's 17 and getting on
a bus to go from his hometown in Florida to Seattle, where he knows no one.
If Ray is insular, it's because life has forced him into an inner
attentiveness that doesn't let him drop his guard. On his first date with
his future wife, he walks her home, then assures her he can make his way
back because he has memorized how many blocks left and right he has to go to
get to his hotel. Even as he's focused on the girlfriend, he's aware of
every step. 

Throughout, the movie flashes back to Ray's childhood, a saga of
Depression-era poverty and tragedy. When Ray's mother -- fiercely played by
newcomer Sharon Warren -- realizes her son is going blind, she insists that
the boy learn to be self-reliant. Warren's performance bursts with the pain,
anger and hope of a mother who knows she can't protect her son against life
and is determined to give him a fighting chance. As played by Warren, Ray's
mother is an extraordinary woman who sets the pattern for the other women in
Ray's life, all of them intense and passionate -- especially Della Bea
(Kerry Washington), who becomes Ray's wife, and Margie Hendricks, a backup
singer who serves as a kind of de facto wife for Ray when he's on the road.

Though the elements are there -- success, drug abuse, redemption -- "Ray"
doesn't conform to a neat VH1 "Behind the Music" structure. Ray's dependency
on heroin settles in over a period of years, concurrent with his gradual
rise to fame. His womanizing is instinctive and remorseless. There's really
no neat pattern to Ray's life, and the movie is right not to impose one. Yet
after a while there's a sameness: Same drugs, same women, same problems.
When, two hours and 20 minutes into the film, it's still only 1965, "Ray"
begins to feel like a story told in real time.

As reviewed by Jon Niccum writing for The Lawrence Journal-World

Like Johnny Cash, Jimi Hendrix or Patsy Cline, Ray Charles was one of those
rare performers who seemed to be universally liked and respected, regardless
of one's musical preference.

The blind, black pianist was the first to combine R&B and gospel into a
powerhouse, radio-friendly style. And the husky voiced singer also found
legions of fans within the country music world.

Everybody loves Ray.

Yet the impressive biopic "Ray" must be commended for not turning the film
into a slobbering tribute or an inspirational picture about a blind man
overcoming adversity. Writer-director Taylor Hackford pulls few punches in
this unflinching and often unflattering depiction of Charles' life story.

While the Grammy winner is revealed to be a charming, shrewd, intelligent
innovator, he is also portrayed as a greedy womanizer who for decades
preferred heroin over friends and family ... but not necessarily over music.

Jamie Foxx gives the performance of the year as the late Charles. This is
one of those rare biographical turns where the actor so completely immerses
himself in the role that it ceases to be an impression and becomes more like
a spiritual possession.

Hackford, who's guided actors to Oscars in the past (notably Louis Gossett
Jr. in "An Officer and a Gentleman"), pulls some fine performances from his
cast. Newcomer Sharon Warren makes an impressive film debut as the young
Charles' working-class mother, particularly in rather heartrending scenes
where she has to teach her son to be independent.

Regina King ("Jerry Maguire") is commanding as one of the backup
singers/mistresses who predictably wants her affair to have a more permanent
union. Also good is Curtis Armstrong as prim Atlantic Records mogul Ahmet
Ertegun, one of the men who recognized the scope of Charles' talent and
allowed him to develop it. Hard to believe this is the same actor who played
Booger in "Revenge of the Nerds."

The genuinely rousing music numbers tend to tie the work together. Classic
cuts such as "Mess Around," "I Got a Woman" and "What'd I Say" come across
as fresh as the day they were tracked. The majority of the recreated numbers
are pulled straight from Charles' classic recordings, although the suave
Foxx (a Julliard-trained pianist) sings a couple tunes on his own.

While the look and feel of the film ring true, it ultimately relies on the
strength of Foxx's performance to distinguish it from other "Behind the
Music"-type endeavors.

"Ray" makes a convincing case that Foxx may have the same level of acting
chops that Charles had on the microphone and keyboard.

Film reviews researched and edited by Peter Haggart ­ who upon seeing this
film immediately went out and bought the sound-track CD.
* * *

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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
PAMELA PALMER, Volunteer
Mailto:ppalmer at moscow.com
Film and Events Committee
Kenworthy Performing Arts Centre

http://www.kenworthy.org
To speak with a KPAC staff member,
call (208) 882-4127
Mailto:kpac at moscow.com
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