|
|
Walk the Line
Love will keep us together
2005
Review: December 21, 2005
Director: James Mangold
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Reese Witherspoon, Ginnifer Goodwin
As you like.
THE SETUP:
Biography of Johnny Cash.
DISCUSSION:
I am often torn between my promise not to write about movies that I have nothing meaningful to say anything about, and the desire to review NEW movies, which bring more new readers to my site than boring old cheesy bad movies, which no one cares about. I warn you now that I am NOT going to have a great deal of insight to offer here, just one man’s perspective, so read on if you want. If not, you’ll have to find something else to distract you from work.
I know pretty much nothing about Johnny Cash, so I have no way of judging how honestly this movie portrays him. We start with a framing device of him waiting to go onstage at Folsom Prison, and immediately flash back to his childhood, where his brother is killed, his father blames him for it [and remains a total asshole to him throughout his life], he joins the air force, starts writing songs, marries this woman and has kids, gets a recording contract, and starts touring.
On tour he meets the radiant Reese Witherspoon as June Carter. Her performance, to me, was really the best thing about the film. She is consistently warm and approachable, and she really created a very real character—when she comes on screen you feel like this person you like has just entered the room. Joaquin is also very good—I just didn’t warm up to him as much. The two stars do have a lot of chemistry together, and it helps immeasurably, as it did back in Coal Miner’s Daughter, surely an antecedent to this film, that they sing their own songs. And do it very well. Again, Joaquin is good, but I was really kind of stunned as Reese and the bubbly energy and absolutely convincing country twang she was able to bring. It’s also a pleasure to see her do something other than idiotic romantic comedies. I hear that Cash’s first wife is a little pissed about how she’s portrayed in this movie, and she has every right to be, as her character [played by Ginnifer Goodwin] is presented as a total, unremitting harpy bitch.
This movie strikes me as just a straight-ahead biography, which is fine. It has the overarching theme of how June’s love whipped Cash into shape and casts the entire thing as their love story, which is fine. Contrast this with Ray, which set about to explain to audiences exactly WHY Ray Charles’ music was so revolutionary. This movie was much more about the personal story and the music was just an ornament. That’s fine, but it results in a movie that, while decent enough, doesn’t stay with you for very long.
SHOULD YOU WATCH IT?
Yeah, it’s pretty good, but if you missed it, I feel confident that you would survive.
