Review 256: Walk the Line
The film is a chronicle of country music legend Johnny Cash's (Joaquin Phoenix) life, from his early days on an Arkansas cotton farm to his rise to fame with Sun Records in Memphis, where he recorded alongside Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins.
The plot is a work of art. It tells the story of a legend, one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century for that matter. It's a story about ones mans downfall and how everyone deserves a shot at redemption. But also a story about the rise Johnny Cash and it's a story about love, loss and alcoholism.
How do all these themes play a part in Johnny Cash's journey you might ask?
Love: Parts of film center around Johnny Cash and his romance and eventual marriage to June Carter (Reese Witherspoon). The love story of Johnny Cash and June Carter is one of the most powerful and moving and facinating love stories in history. Cash almost instantly fell in love with Carter when he met her on that tour and since then he has wanted to be close to her but she's put off by his behaviour under the effects of alcohol.
Loss: When Cash was a boy, his brother Jack dies from injuries in an accident with a saw and eventually because of his alcoholism he looses his the two women in his life: His girlfriend and eventual wife Vivian Liberto (Ginnifer Goodwin) and June.
Redemption: After Johnny Cash goes on drugs and alcohol and loses the people he loves in his life, he goes to prison for a while but June still has feelings for him and although they don't immediately become a couple they try to mend their relationship.
I also think that Walk the Line is one of the best films on the subject of alcoholism, the scenes with Cash drinking all this alcohol and taking all these drugs are handled really precisely and really make you think twice about taking them, especially is you are a drug addict or a alcoholic.
Johnny Cash was one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century but he was also a troubled man, but this film isn't harsh on him and says he was a terrible man, this is a sympathetic portrait of him as if it's showing us that everyone has their flaws.
Writer/Director James Mangold's direction is superb, it's beautifully shot and captures the beauty of all the different eras of Cashes life. The production design (recreating the 40's 50's and 60's) is terrific, the costumes look so authentic, the sountrack by T-Bone Burnett is wonderful, the scenery is breathtaking, the singing scenes are spectacular and the ending was superb.
The acting is fantastic, particularly from Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon. Phoenix is really powerful as Cash, the perfect choice, though I have to admit he is at his best in the alcohol scenes. To me this, Gladiator and The Master are his best performances. As for Witherspoon, she is lovely as June Carter, she puts on such a wonderful accent but also does a great job at portraying the side thats sympathetic towards Cash. Better still, the rest of the cast is also fantastic: Ginnifer Goodwin, Robert Patrick amongst others are all brilliantly cast in their roles.
Walk the Line is a powerful bio pic and one of the best films on the subject of alcoholism, 5/5.
The Anonymous Critic.
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