Movie Review – Walk The Line – The Man in Black

Walk the Line

The love of a woman, given reluctantly, saves a man from addiction and self-destruction. Traces the life of Johnny Cash from his boyhood, with loss of a brother and of his father’s affection, to 1968 when his outlaw side and his unhappiness give way to the twin triumphs of his concert at Folsom Prison and June Carter’s acceptance of his marriage proposal. Along the way there’s his first composition, first recording, first marriage, daughters, being smitten with June, divorce, pills and booze, an empty life, and the Carter family’s nursing him back to health. June eases Johnny out of a ring of fire.

Well after the storm this movie made at the Oscars, I thought I had to watch it. I passed it by originally not being a great fan of the gravelly sound of the man in black, Johnny Cash. More my Dad’s kind of generation, although he was a greater fan of people like Bruce Springsteen and Pink Floyd.

It does seem to be the season for music biopics and I have to say I am much more of a Ray Charles fan (loved his biopic!). Someone asked me if there was any others I’d like to see..I’d have to say Bob Marley would attract my interest the most!

Johnny Cash and June Carter (Later June Carter Cash) the subjects of the film and their tumultuous relationship.

Johnny Cash and June Carter

Captured beautifully by Reese Witherspoon and Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny and June.

Reese Witherpsoon and Joaquin Phoenix

Reese really did deserve to win the Oscar, actually it was an amazing performance by both of them, they really gave their everything.

I always found Joaquin underrated, overshadowed by his rock n roll bratpack brother River Phoenix who sadly died from a drug overdose.

The film is interesting for both the fans of Cash and like me the casual observers, it’s well put together, well paced, emotionally absorbing, fantastically acted and the score is great (all songs in the movie were actually performed by Joaquin and Reese, amazing eh?).

Definately worth watching, gives you an insight into the great mans life..and his problems. You’ll probably here a few songs you recognise!

Give it a try.

I’d give it a strong 8/10.

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7 Responses to Movie Review – Walk The Line – The Man in Black

  1. dcyk March 31, 2006 at 11:53 am #

    yeah, watched it with my other half, it was a great movie, and i would say the both of them lived their part. reese was flawless, and surprisingly she have a good voice for country….mebe she can think of that as a second option if she wants to stop acting.. 😛

  2. ylchong March 31, 2006 at 12:07 pm #

    Hi tiger-in-disguise:

    Haven’t seen the movie nyet, butt will, definitely. I dig “some” of his songs; let’s say, comapred with Hank Williams, ah, that’s quite different level, I can say I did at lasert 80% of the cowboy’s C&W blues.
    Have you seen Your Cheatin’ Heart…? — hard to beat in film biopics!

  3. foodcrazee March 31, 2006 at 1:39 pm #

    eerrrr… i am still in pink floyd…dunno why but i just love them….will see about the movie then

  4. Intensecure March 31, 2006 at 1:49 pm #

    Watched this in Gold Class in Bangkok recently – world’s best Gold Class cinema is the one in the Siam Paragon IMHO – and was very impressed. Although not a fan of that genre of music (Mark E Smith & The Fall for me 😉 ), Johnny Cash has always been a “larger than life” cult figure, and it was interesting to see the story of his early years.
    As ST noted, the performances were terrific, I had to be convinced that the actors actually performed the music by checking on the net, really amazed.
    Thoroughly good entertainment.

  5. lilian March 31, 2006 at 4:03 pm #

    Yeah, the show that gives you the ‘feel good’ feelings. If only Johnny Cash is as handsome as Joaquin Phoenix…

  6. daren March 31, 2006 at 5:58 pm #

    Reese Wintherspoon is Rock! not many actress/actor could really sing.. Love the movie

  7. Ben Tan April 6, 2006 at 8:29 pm #

    Although I possess quite a few thousand CDs, I didn’t have any Johnny Cash. I have every released recording of Maria Callas I could find, same for Cleo Laine. Then I saw I Walk The Line. Now I have bought more than 15 Johnny Cash CDs!!! Amazing what a powerful performance by an actor can do!

 
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