Film - A legendary bluesman inspires another hit. By Mark Kermode Ray (15) A Very Long Engagement (15)

In every pop biopic, there comes a tricky moment when the band or musician stumbles upon the song for which they are most famous. In Steve Rash's otherwise excellent Buddy Holly Story, the clunky penny drops as Buddy strums his guitar on the way to the studio, fretting that the lyric "If you knew . . . Cindy Lou" doesn't sound quite right and serendipitously asking his drummer: "Hey Jerry, what's the name of that new girl you've been seeing?" In Oliver Stone's overblown epic The Doors, it's the sound of keyboard player Ray Manzarek sending the band out of the rehearsal room so he can "work on something" for their new song, only to launch tentatively into the classic organ break from "Light My Fire". As for Ray, Taylor Hackford's Oscar-tipped biopic of the legendary bluesman Ray Charles, one of many crunches occurs as our hero bashes away at an electric piano in his hotel room, where a major lovers' tiff segues rather too neatly into a spiritedly fearsome rendition of (yes, you guessed it) "Hit the Road, Jack".

It's not the only cheesy moment in a film that also falls foul of the usual awkward celebrity introductions ("Hi, I'm Quincy Jones!"). But considering the potential sentimental pitfalls of a story that combines a battle against blindness, poverty, racial prejudice and (most significantly) a long-term addiction to heroin, Hackford's heartfelt tribute to the life and times of Charles is low on feel-good cliches. Having demonstrated an empathy for the rough textures of underdog life in a range of movies from An Officer and a Gentleman to Blood In, Blood Out, Hackford efficiently evokes the troubled world of a man born and raised in Georgia, the state from which (according to James L White's inventive script) he was banned for refusing to play segregated gigs.

Moving easily from upbeat musical sequences (in which the lessons of The Idolmaker and Chuck Berry Hail! Hail! Rock'n'Roll are evident) to scenes of downbeat social realism (the drug addiction is portrayed in admirably unhysterical terms), Hackford consistently balances the crowd-pleasing playlist with earnest lessons in social history. More subtly, the director recalls the colour shifts of Dolores Claiborne to distinguish between Ray's over-vivid childhood memories of life with his tough-loving mother and the more brittle sheen of adulthood with its bright shiny sets and dark personal interiors.

At the core of the film, however, is an astonishing performance by Golden Globe winner Jamie Foxx, who does so much more than merely mimic the mannerisms of this instantly recognisable pop icon. While the bodily twitches, trademark grin and unmistakable rolling gait may suggest an impersonation, the heart of Foxx's performance lies in his ability to inhabit a character who is both admirable and exasperating in equal measure. Whether triumphing over adversity or wallowing in self-absorbed "artistic" indulgence (his treatment of friends, lovers and business partners is frequently lousy), Foxx's Ray comes across as a fully rounded character, neither sanctified for his disability - it's the heroin rather than the blindness that makes him a "cripple" - nor simplified for the benefit of a mainstream audience. That Foxx can play the piano clearly pays dividends, and it's a credit to the actor that we can't see the join between his on-set noodlings and Charles's own studio recordings. On this evidence, Foxx is a dead-cert for an Oscar nomination, and may even beat Leonardo DiCaprio's Aviator to the Best Actor statuette.

On a more esoteric note, A Very Long Engagement is a visually imaginative, if narratively convoluted, fable of undying love that reunites the director and star of the French hit Amelie. As one of the most distinctive cinematic stylists of his generation, Jean-Pierre Jeunet (creator of Delicatessen, The City of Lost Children and Alien: Resurrection) has conjured worlds defined by inventive whimsy, narrative uncertainty and fantastical emotional weirdness. Addressing the horrors of war and the wonders of love in a manner that occasionally resembles an advert for ripe fromage or Stella Artois, A Very Long Engagement is a very tall tale told by a film-maker who doesn't know when to stop - for better or worse.

While Audrey Tautou's angelic simpering may try the patience of more caustic souls, Jeunet's hellish vision of life and death in the trenches reminds us that all the best fairy tales have a truly Grimm edge. Despite suffering (as the title suggests) from being slightly too long, this remains an enticing and enchanting affair, inhabited by a range of memorable faces (from Jeunet regular Dominique Pinon to a surprising Jodie Foster) and blessed with a wilful generic hybridity that demands - and ultimately rewards - open-minded patience from its audience.

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