Walk the Line ****1/2

Walk the line is a great movie, I loved it. It’s thoroughly entertaining and managed to interweave a few of the more important stories from Johnny Cash’s life, those of redemption and love. There seems to be a lot of comparison to Ray circulating out there, which is unfortunate as I think Ray’s not even in the same ballpark. If you must compare this to another music biopic, please think more along the lines of the Coal Miner’s Daughter. But what sets this movie apart from other biopics is the powerful love story.

Joaquin Phoenix always manages to truly become whomever he plays and does another incredible job here, even mastering Cash’s hunched shouldered walk and learning to play guitar and sing. And yes, the boy can sing. Phoenix endowed Cash with a wounded soul and vulnerability. Reese Witherspoon sparkles on screen as June Carter Cash and is a delight in both her on stage performances and off-stage struggles. Their on-stage performances together were truly exciting to watch. Unlike most movie romances where one of the characters is generally a little off and they seem to have no problems other than romance, their love story has two strong-willed and complex people coming together in a way that doesn’t separate them from the realities and problems of their lives – making it much more real and more touching. I especially enjoyed the scenes with June’s family towards the end.

The beginning of the move is a bit mired in sentimentality and the oft portrayed troubled background of performers, with the archetypal distant and angry father and early tragedy. I didn’t really care for the scenes showing him trying to write songs, I suppose they had a point in being there but they weren’t really necessary – we know he wrote songs. The film doesn’t really pick up steam until Cash moves to Nashville. I sort of wish they’d just started the movie there. You don’t really see how he meets his first wife anyway, so it doesn’t seem too necessary to show his childhood as it’s all retold later through dialogue.

That being said, this film still has what most films this year have been missing – heart and soul, and lots of it.