A wonderful film. Jamie Foxx showed me more of that special something I saw in (don't laugh) Any Given Sunday. Foxx literally becomes Charles for this film-taking on the mannerisms, carriage and voice of Ray. The movie showed the genius as well as the tragedy of this very human talent. I was particularly moved by the portrayal of his mother. A woman who you would expect to resent her son(s) (1. raising two young boys on menial labor, 2. as a stunned child Ray stood by as his younger brother, drowned, 3. Ray becomes blind and a heavier burden within the year of his brother's death), instead his mother never lays blame at Ray's feet, loves him in a strong brave way and sacrifices by sending the last child she has away (this must have broken her heart) to attend a school where he might learn enough to become someone. The movie's epiphany is where Ray's mother (in dream/fantasy sequence) tells Ray that, for all his genius and success, he has failed in his promise to her by becoming an addict. A wonderful message about motherhood.