En la cuerda floja

FIRST: Let us FOCUS on the Title's Content and Context.....

Here is a BIOPIC focused on a real life cultural icon who rose to fame at least a generation before most of You Dear Readers were even BORN!

In L. A., California, in the 50s and 60s, my daily habit of listening to TOP 40 Radio exposed me to just about every kind of music genre, pretty much all of the time! Interestingly enough, I acquired, eventually, a taste for just about all of them, to one degree or another! Well, pretty much everything...JAZZ, not so much, really, and definitely NOT at all: COUNTRY music!

The ONLY Country album I EVER bought in my ENTIRE life (Well, at least before turning 50!) was "Johnny Cash: His Greatest Hits"! Upon realizing that they had released a movie about his life, it immediately went to the top of my "MUST SEE" List!

Here is the central question for ALL of You to ponder BEFORE... DURING ...and AFTER watching: Precisely what was it about his music that gave it such widespread appeal? Exactly what ELEMENTS made Johnny Cash and his Music so very, very special?

It would be nice to be able to provide a simple, straightforward answer to both questions, but in the film, WALK the LINE, it is all too clear, that in real life, when it comes to a human being, things sure can get extremely complicated!

As a result, here, we end up with a movie that mirrors the life of its lead character: very interesting, entertaining, multifaceted, but at the same time, often dark, brooding and conflicted!

I most certainly MUST emphasize ...WALK is a film I can wholeheartedly recommend no matter how you feel about Johnny Cash and/or his music.

Quite frankly, for the role of Johnny Cash, Joaquin Phoenix (GLADIATOR) is not someone who would have made my short list, or even my long list, for that matter! WOW!, What a surprise! This actor, who was born in Puerto Rico, demonstrates tremendous versatility, both as an actor as well as a singer... (Yes, that is Joaquin Phoenix's own voice in the movie!) However, I do think that, at times, Mr. Phoenix comes up just a little bit short when it comes to his ability to project his voice firmly, but his performance, in general, was so masterful, that this point is quite easily overlooked.

What really drives WALK? What gives it its soul and keeps it focused and centered is the repressed romance between Cash and the love of his life, June Carter (Reese Witherspoon / Legally Blonde, Cruel Intentions) Joaquin Phoenix, despite shining in the title role, is overshadowed by Witherspoon's overwhelming screen presence in the scenes where they appear together.

Previously, WITHERSPOON had never really flagged my attention that much, perhaps other than her notable characterization of Tracey Flick in ELECTION. In most of her roles she seemed to be type cast as the syrupy sweet, but at the same time, rather annoying girl next door! WALK is well worth any time and money you invest to see Reese demonstrate her considerable acting talents ... And how clearly she demonstrates just how stunning those abilities are!

Surely, WALK the LINE, for a myriad of reasons, invites comparison with another film about the life of another famous musician, RAY. Perhaps, there are many common elements in the life of famous musicians: A tragic childhood, years struggling in anonymity, problems with alcohol and drugs, a great deal of conflict and tension in their affective relationships and great difficulty accepting and managing fame and money. But after all, each story is real and each contains many elements that distinguishes it from others!

8******** ENJOY! / DISFRUTELA!

Any comments, questions or observations, in English o en Español, are most welcome!

Considering the formula junk coming out of Hollywood these days, I was blown away by how good this movie was. The direction was perfect. Using close ups to get us in under the skin of Johnny Cash. And since it was a period piece, he could have bored us with lots of cgi of Memphis and L.A. to take us back in time. Instead he used the actors and the music to take us there. Biopics naturally have a formula to them, but the director and screenwriter did not take us down the track of overly sentimental scenes. These were real and done with a bit of well placed humor. Just like real life. Afterall you still have to follow the real lives of Johnny and June. You can't make it up, just to be original! The movie was also a movie you can take most of the family to. No nudity and sex to SHOW how in love they are, just real dialog...it's nice to hear REAL dialog and not just another chase scene, or four letter word. Yes, some movies need that to tell the story, this one doesn't. This movie goes onto my short list of great biopics, with "Ray". Not much else comes close to Ray or Walk the Line. The true test of any biopics is: can you still understand the plot even if you never heard of the people the movie is about. This movie is a great love story even if you never heard of Johnny and June Cash. Oscars all around I say! Plus I loved the Rockabilly music through out the movie.

I've long thought that James Mangold was one of the most underrated American directors; while other acclaimed auteurs like Wes Anderson and David Gordon Green have made names for themselves by essentially repeating themselves with each film, Mangold has attracted considerably less attention for actually having the gall to show some range. Like the great directors of the Hollywood studio system, Mangold shows visual and narrative skill across a wide array of genres: character-driven crime (COPLAND); horror (IDENTITY); issue-oriented drama (GIRL INTERRUPTED), etc. What each of these films shares in common is a stunningly elegant and expressive visual style, an attention to character reminiscent of Renoir, and an economy of storytelling that would make Howard Hawks envious.

Now Mangold has delivered his masterpiece, and it's the best studio release I've seen so far this year. WALK THE LINE, Mangold's story of the relationship between Johnny Cash and June Carter, is deliriously romantic, exhiliratingly entertaining (as a musical it invites and earns comparison with the best of Vincente Minelli), and profoundly moving--all set to a spectacular soundtrack. Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon are both brilliant as Cash and Carter, but not only in the ways you would expect. Their most impressive achievement is to convincingly portray two people falling in love in a manner that's sincere and sweet but never cheaply sentimental. This is the most unabashedly romantic American movie since THE NOTEBOOK, but it's totally authentic and lacking in melodrama; the subtlety with which Mangold and his performers delineate the one step forward, two steps back nature of Cash and Carter's love affair is staggering. Phoenix is particularly brilliant, not only in the romantic scenes but in moments in which Cash discusses his brother's early death; in these scenes the major tragedies of both the character and the performer's lives merge in a way that is heartbreakingly real. And the movie gets across the intoxicating nature of creative collaboration between two people in love better than any film I've ever seen--perhaps no coincidence given that Mangold and his closest collaborator, producer Cathy Konrad, are married. I could (and will) go on about this movie for hours, but let's just say that it's the movie to beat for the rest of the year.

Walk the Line is a great movie. When you watch it, you feel as though you are watching Johny Cash in person. Juaqin Pheonix is amazing as Cash, a man with so many regrets and self doubts. Reese Witherspoon gives an Oscar performance as the love of his life June Carter. The film is long, but worth every minute. But what is great is that T Bone Burnett chose the right songs to play. When I saw it today people in the theater were singing along with the movie. And what is great, is that Pheonix and Witherspoon sand the songs themselves. This movie should win several Oscars this year. Go see it. It is an amazing film, and it perfectly protrays an amazing man.

Whenever I see so much "Oscar worthy" tags/blurbs in an ad campaign I get nervous, see Cinderella Man. Usually you look closely at the fine print and see that the esteemed critic lauding the film is Joe Schmoe from the One Stop Light Bugle Press in Buttcreek, Illinois or a low level flunky who just happens to work for the media conglomerate that is distributing the film. So my heart sank a little when a film I have been eagerly awaiting was swaddled with such praise when the ads hit the air.

But they're right for once.

Joaquin Phoenix wears Johnny Cash like a suit. He isn't doing a Rich Little impersonation, you don't rub your eyes in disbelief, but he channels a man so distinct in appearance and voice to a level that is beyond admirable. One of the traits that made Johnny Cash a legend was that nobody sounded or looked like him. Short of a computer generated Cash walking around in his own bio-pic like one of those John Wayne beer commercials this is the definitive representation.

And yet Phoenix may not give the best performance in the film.

Reese Witherspoon more than holds up her end in a role that easily could have been reduced to a clichéd bumpkin. Witherspoon portrays the on-stage June in the way June portrayed her own "character", the stage persona that people adored, while giving her the resolve and inner strength to be the woman who tamed a hell-bent, grizzly bear of a man like John.

The chemistry of Phoenix and Witherspoon together in any scene, but their on-stage duets in particular, are truthful in a way that resonates long after the credits. I know that unless you have been living in a cave for the past week you have likely been bombarded with the word that the actors sing themselves without use of lip syncing. I have never been a fan of musicals, or even musical performances in a film. They generally seem forced and uncomfortable to me, the moment when I stop experiencing the story and feel reminded that I am watching a movie. I never felt that in this film. I never felt that their singing took the focus of the film, but the performances work with the story like no other music bio I have ever seen. I never felt as if I was being led through the catalog, the songs felt as organic and natural as any spoken dialog in a great narrative.

This film far exceeded my expectations and afforded me the first trip home from a theater with a true feeling of satisfaction in a very, very long time. Highly recommended.