Review

Review Date: 20-November-05
Spoiler Rating: Medium
Juju Judgment: Juicy

Walk the Line (2005)

Seven hours after watching "Walk the Line," I went to the symphony in a beautiful old concert hall. When I closed my eyes shortly into the program and tried to lose myself in the experience, my mind was flooded with unexpected images and a beat that almost set my feet to tapping. It was a beat that had nothing to do with the violins and baton-waving before me; rather, it was the insistent rhythm of the movie's opening scene. Bass. Drum. Clap. Twang. Forget you, Amadeus.

Yup, the music of "Walk the Line" is a powerful attraction, and one doesn't need to love country or Johnny Cash to enjoy it. The film takes place during that fascinating era in American music when gospel, country, and rock 'n' roll coexisted as integrated versions of irresistible pop. From his childhood in the '40s through a climactic moment of his life in the '60s, the story follows Cash as he trades his ordinary, depressive Southern upbringing for the pleasures and pitfalls of fame. Much of the action unfolds on the road (where he spent a good part of his first marriage, leaving the wife and children behind), when folks of all ages packed theaters to enjoy the rollicking sounds of Cash and co-stars Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis. In a bonus-point move of actorly bravado, Joaquin Phoenix performs all of Cash's songs on his own, matching an impressive voice with a solid portrayal of a wistful, haunted, achingly unsatisfied legend.

Admittedly, the legend aspect of Cash's history gets short shrift here. (Even with little foreknowledge of the subject, I could tell that pieces were missing, e.g., the formation of a renegade image which Phoenix's innocence belies.) However, director/co-writer James Mangold chooses to reflect the singer's journey through his love life more than his career. The romance is worthy of center stage. For years, Cash shared a caravan with down-home songbird June Carter, one of the few fellow musicians who didn't join him in experimenting with drugs. Reese Witherspoon nearly steals the show as Carter, a born entertainer who learned very young that being perky was the best she had to offer. (Witherspoon also has real singing talent that makes even corny hayseed tunes shamefully infectious.) Like a good country heroine she has troubles of her own, and her lengthy friendship/courtship with Cash is a convincing argument for the love of a good woman (especially when she's backed by parents brandishing shotguns against those who would enable Cash's eventual addiction). "Walk the Line" is one of few movies that presents true love as an actual force which involves time, effort, and heart-stopping payoffs. (Did they really get engaged that way? Wow.) Consequently its memories, as well as its music, are hard to shake.

Copyright © 2005 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.