Jamie Foxx offers a candid insight into the life of Ray Charles, making us privy to the complexities that shaped him both as a man and musician. Foxx masters his subject’s physicality in an energetic performance that captures his exuberance, charisma, ruthlessness and addictions – to both women and drugs. The film starts with a life-changing moment for Charles, who at nine years old, watches his brother drown, too emotionally overwhelmed to intervene, leaving him with a guilt that he grapples with for years afterwards. Soon after, he starts to go blind and, after his mother urges him not to feel sorry for himself, he rises up to become one of history’s most prolific jazz musicians.