In theaters

RAY, directed by Taylor Hackford, written by Hackford and James L. White, 152 minutes, rated PG-13.

In “Ray,” the rich, satisfying new biography of Ray Charles, audiences will find more than just the drama to beat this year. They’ll also find the performance to beat – Jamie Foxx as the legendary musician.

As Charles, who died in June at age 73, Foxx transforms himself with a performance that’s as startling as it is authentic. It’s beyond imitation. He’s so convincing in the role, he makes you believe you’re watching Charles play himself, an uncanny feat of showmanship that’s a marvel to behold.

As directed by Taylor Hackford from a script he co-wrote with James L. White, the movie’s focus is sweeping. It follows Charles’ bleak childhood in the ’30s, his rise to fame in the ’50s and ’60s, and how he first pushed the nation’s buttons by blending gospel music with the sexual rhythms of R&B, something nobody had done before him.

It examines how he was banned from the state of Georgia because he took a stand against segregation, how Mary Ann Fisher (Aunjanue Ellis) and Margie Hendricks (Regina King) became his combative, long-term mistresses, and how his shifting tastes in music suited the wandering aesthetic of an evolving artist.

The movie follows most biopics in that it’s too packaged for its own good, condensing its subject’s unmanageable life into a manageable whole. Still, if it occasionally feels too neat, such as in how it suggests that several of Charles’ more popular songs sprung spontaneously from his arguments with various girlfriends, it never masks the fact that Charles could be a difficult man with flaws as great as his talent.

There’s a fair amount of risk in that, particularly when you’re dealing with an icon as beloved as Ray Charles. Hackford and White know this, but they nevertheless resist hagiography to argue that had you known Charles intimately, you might have had more respect for his music than for the man himself.

As excellent as the supporting cast is, what’s essential to the movie’s success is Foxx. The reason he’s so good goes beyond his gifts as an actor. What makes him perfect for the role is how he relates so completely with Charles. Like the musician, Foxx was raised by a strong Christian woman, he learned to play the piano as a child, and in his youth, he left his small, rural southern town for the bright lights of a big city, where he hoped to start a music career. Those similarities help him build a framework for a performance that’s full-bodied and complex.

Physically, Foxx also nails Charles, from his striking likeness to his rocking swing at the piano to his shuffling gate. Charles always seemed to be in motion, moving to some unheard rhythm when no music was playing. Foxx understands the music was playing in Charles’ head, and that understanding is transforming.

In lesser hands, this performance could have been disastrous – a pantomime of horrors that was all wrong. But Foxx is willing to take risks that allow him to present a gifted artist haunted by his share of demons – the childhood death of his brother, which he believes he could have prevented; the loss of his eyesight at age 7; his 20-year addiction to heroin; and his years of philandering, which strained his relationship with wife, Della Bea (Kerry Washington), while producing more children with other women than this film has time to explore.

What Foxx has become this year is the actor his contemporary, Cuba Gooding Jr., has failed to become – polished, intelligent and reliable, so good, in fact, that his performances in August’s “Collateral” and now in “Ray” will launch him into the coveted A-list.

Not unlike Charlize Theron in last year’s “Monster,” an actor no one took seriously until she turned out a performance that deservedly won her the Academy Award, Foxx follows suit. Watching him in “Ray” is something to get excited about. He is so spot-on, he is, at this early stage of the pending awards season, a shoo-in for many of the major acting awards.

Grade: A

Christopher Smith is the Bangor Daily News film critic. His reviews appear Mondays and Fridays in Style, 5:30 p.m. Thursdays on WLBZ 2 Bangor and WCSH 6 Portland, and are archived at Rotten

Tomatoes.com. He may be reached at BDNFilm1@aol.com.

The Video-DVD Corner

Renting a video or a DVD? NEWS film critic Christopher Smith can help. Below are his grades of recent releases in video stores. Those in bold print are new to video stores this week.

Against the Ropes – D

The Alamo – D

Around the World in 80 Days – D

At Home at the End of the World – B+

Barbershop 2: Back in Business – B+

Connie and Carla – B

Dawn of the Dead – A-

The Day After Tomorrow – B

Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights – D

Dogville – B

Ella Enchanted – B

Envy – D

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind – A-

Fahrenheit 9/11 – A-

50 First Dates – C+

Fog of War – A

Garfield: The Movie – C+

The Girl Next Door – C+

Hidalgo – C

Home on the Range – C-

The Human Stain – D

Jersey Girl – C+

Johnson Family Vacation – D

Kill Bill Vol. 2 – B

The Ladykillers – B+

Laws of Attraction – C-

Man on Fire – B

Mean Girls – B+

Miracle – B+

Monster – A

The Punisher – C

Raising Helen – C+

Shrek 2 – B

Super Size Me – C-

Taking Lives – C

13 Going On 30 – B

The Triplets of Belleville – A

Twisted – D-

Van Helsing – B

Walking Tall – C

White Chicks – C-