Walk the Line

Walk the Line is a great movie. When you watch it, you feel as though you are watching Johny Cash in person. Juaqin Pheonix is amazing as Cash, a man with so many regrets and self doubts. Reese Witherspoon gives an Oscar performance as the love of his life June Carter. The film is long, but worth every minute. But what is great is that T Bone Burnett chose the right songs to play. When I saw it today people in the theater were singing along with the movie. And what is great, is that Pheonix and Witherspoon sand the songs themselves. This movie should win several Oscars this year. Go see it. It is an amazing film, and it perfectly protrays an amazing man.

"Walk the Line" is without question the zenith of Reese Witherspoon's acting career thus far. Joaquin Phoenix IS Johnny Cash in this biopic, but Reese as June Carter Cash sets this film on fire. It is one thing to portray a person's life, with feeling and emotion, something which Joaquin pulls off effortlessly. However, it is quite another to make a portrayal bigger than life, and Reese makes June Carter Cash the central character of this film.

To say that Reese steals the show is an understatement. Reese becomes a lightning rod for Joaquin's character, in a way that is actually quite scary. After all, Reese is from Nashville, and her Southern affect is flawless and absolutely winning. Suffice it to say that Reese will thankfully be present when the Academy Awards are presented next year. She might want to get a few words ready.

This movie will not be everyone's favorite flick, if for no other reason than that it is a biopic of flawed, Southern characters. However, perhaps the very flaws that imbue these characters with vitality and realism can establish the acting of Joaquin and Reese with an almost spiritual meaning, as they live these real people on screen. But in the final analysis, Reese Witherspoon will become the greatest contemporary screen actor upon release of this film. See for yourself. You read it here first.

Considering the formula junk coming out of Hollywood these days, I was blown away by how good this movie was. The direction was perfect. Using close ups to get us in under the skin of Johnny Cash. And since it was a period piece, he could have bored us with lots of cgi of Memphis and L.A. to take us back in time. Instead he used the actors and the music to take us there. Biopics naturally have a formula to them, but the director and screenwriter did not take us down the track of overly sentimental scenes. These were real and done with a bit of well placed humor. Just like real life. Afterall you still have to follow the real lives of Johnny and June. You can't make it up, just to be original! The movie was also a movie you can take most of the family to. No nudity and sex to SHOW how in love they are, just real dialog...it's nice to hear REAL dialog and not just another chase scene, or four letter word. Yes, some movies need that to tell the story, this one doesn't. This movie goes onto my short list of great biopics, with "Ray". Not much else comes close to Ray or Walk the Line. The true test of any biopics is: can you still understand the plot even if you never heard of the people the movie is about. This movie is a great love story even if you never heard of Johnny and June Cash. Oscars all around I say! Plus I loved the Rockabilly music through out the movie.

Before watching this film, I had my doubts. Johnny Cash is one of my favourite country singers, nay, singers of all time, and I was unsure as whether, as with other mediocre biopics, namely the flashy Ray, could do him enough justice. As it turned out, Johnny gets the film he deserves, and, what's more, Walk the Line got me extremely interested in the work of his wife, June Carter Cash.

Covering 20 years of his life, including Cash's rise into fame and delve into near-self-destruction, James Mangold concentrates on the key things in his life – his music, the drugs, and his all-consuming, untameable love for the very special June Carter Cash. It is as a romance that Walk the Line truly shines. In real life, Johnny and June didn't get together until 20 years since their first meeting, and that they could wait that long for each other, is quite poignant.

Holding the film together are the Oscar-nominated and Oscar-winning figures of Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon, and their chemistry pretty much carries the film. When they're together, they both dazzle, gelling perfectly, whether it's a bout of verbal jesting, they're doing a duet, or just chatting. Phoenix captures the tortured soul of Cash eloquently in one of his finest performances, and one that exudes that dangerous yet enthralling edge of danger present in Cash. His singing voice resembles that of Cash's, yet he never resorts to downright imitation, which only adds to the viewing pleasure.

But the shining star of the film is Reese Witherspoon, as June Carter Cash. She plays the singer-songwriter-country music star that grabbed the attentions of Johnny Cash, but proved a hard win, forcing him to quit his narcotic dependence and violent self-destruction before she'd consider him. Although many have disliked Witherspoon's work her, I simply adore it. She makes June a truly memorable, Crouchesque, person. For the audience, she can be goofy and lovable, but alone, with Johnny, she displays a vulnerable side. Witherspoon here radiates a strong, feminist, yet effortlessly lovable vibe, and every scene she appears in, she steals.

The look and feel of Johnny's time are captured well in the set design and T-Bone Burnett guitar-led score, and the costumes are nothing short of sublime. The dressing of Cash is inspired, but it is June's clothes – floral print, pink, domestic, or snazzy, that, again, steal the show. Each of Reese's costumes captures the mood of her characters.

There's also great fun to be had in the musical numbers. Ring of Fire and Jukebox Blues allow the audience to get their toes tapping, but my favourite number is the performance of Jackson, where their unmatched chemistry is showcased in one of my favourite songs of all-time. Like the film, this song is entertaining, sweet, and more intelligent than frequently given credit for.

I don't know about "Mangold the Auteur", and might need a bit more proof that this is really a director worth paying attention to, but this is a pretty watchable film. I found the story and film-making a bit predictable, like the usual bio-pic formula that you might expect if you've seen, say, coal miner's daughter, or any other bio-pic of someone you love. What makes this movie stand out is the two lead performances. Reese is unbelievably convincing as June Carter Cash. She almost disappears into the role. And her singing! Who knew???

And Joaquin! We've been waiting for him to deliver a really spectacular performance for some time, and this is finally it. I, for one, resisted the idea that ANYONE could portray the man in black, but he does a pretty fine job. Not just an impersonation, but actually a performance worth watching. Really fine.

Watch for the Jackson duet. Really awesome.