Hit after hit, Grammy after Grammy, you’re the hottest sensation in the music industry, but does it guarantee you happiness? Does the accomplishment guarantee you a sense of peace within yourself?

Taylor Hackford, who directed “Ray,” a biographic film of Ray Charles, does the singer justice by showing the many facets the singer faced on his rise to fame.

Hackford directed the film uniquely and creatively in the way he coordinated the past and present together to show viewers Charles’ life within a couple of hours.

As Ray (played by Jamie Foxx) rises to fame up to present time, Charles is plagued by his inner demons. In scenes where Charles starts to suffer from bad memories, Hackford alternates from present to past to show what happened in the past that causes Charles to suffer in the present.

In one scene, for example, Charles reminisces on how he started using his hearing to visualize images after he had gone blind. Little Charles falls down one day and no one is there to help him. He suddenly stops struggling and realizes how he can hear everything ten times sharper than before when he could see.

The way Hackford coordinated some of Charles’ greatest hits into the movie’s storyline was inventive and quite amusing.

The viewers also get to listen and see how some of his greatest songs we know today, such as, “Unchain my Heart,” “I Got a Woman,” and “Thinking of Georgia” were created.

In one scene, when Charles and his future wife Della “Bea” Robinson (Kerry Washington) had just made love, Charles suddenly gets inspired by the moment. He goes down to the living room and starts singing to Bea the song that is now known as “I Got a Woman.”

Not only was the film directed well, but it also had great actors that would surely have made Charles himself smile with satisfaction if he were alive today.

Foxx portrayed Charles’ essence as a person, not just the glamorized version of the musician, but as a person who had made his shares of mistakes and who suffered for them as well.

A dramatic scene is where Charles is in the hospital trying to quit his heroin addiction. Charles, suddenly deprived of the drug, starts going into withdrawal symptoms, throws up and starts to shiver uncontrollably.

Foxx made it seem so real, that it looked like he was actually having withdrawals instead of just acting; it didn’t seeme like an actor was playing Charles. It felt like seeing Charles himself going through that ordeal.

There’s a buzz going around about an Oscar for Foxx on his brilliant performance in this movie and it wouldn’t be quite far-fetched to see him getting it.

Sharon Warren, another brilliant performer in the film, plays the mother of Charles, Aretha Robinson. Warren’s performance was so emotional and empowering that the viewers have the sense where Charles’ musical drive came from and his ambition to never give up in dire circumstances.

As shown in one scene, where Robinson is sending little Charles off to a special school for blind children, little Charles starts crying, saying he doesn’t want to go and that he doesn’t need an education. Robinson crouches down to little Charles’s eye level and says to him that the school could teach him things that she couldn’t possibly teach him. Robinson also tells little Charles to never live like her, to “never live life as a cripple.”

With a moving, powerful film, no viewer will go home disappointed.

On Screen

What: “Ray”: This biopic traces the career of legendary rhythm and blues singer Ray Charles from his beginnings as a poor musician to his rise to fame.

Rated: PG-13

Starring: Jamie Foxx, Kerry Washington, Regina King, Clifton Powell.

Bottom Line: This compelling film is worthwhile thanks to the notable performances of the actors.