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More Cash for your cash from Joaquin
WALK THE LINE
Directed by James Mangold
Certificate 15
DIRECTOR James Mangold’s biopic about the great American
country music legend Johnny Cash has not only netted leading
actor Joaquin Phoenix an Oscar nomination, but also presented
the glory of Cash’s music in an accessible, acceptable
frame of talent and love triumphing over personal demons.
Similar in plot to Ray Charles’s life – both grew
up poor in the American south, both lost brothers in accidents
for which they blamed themselves, both battled drug addiction
– Cash’s breakthrough comes when the budding
singer/musician/songwriter is singing what has to be the one
of the dullest tub-thumping gospel tunes only to kick into Folsom
Prison Blues out of desperation to catch record label owner
Sam Phillips‚ attention.
Here, the music is something of an underpinning to the real
story: the forbidden romance between Cash and country singer
and songwriter June Carter.
Gaining herself an Oscar nomination, Reese Witherspoon may not
have seemed ideal for the role of Carter, a talented, balanced
yet feisty performer in her own right, but she is.
Aided by months of singing lessons, clever hair and makeup and
what has to be the best wardrobe designer in Hollywood, Witherspoon
disappears into the role of Cash’s saviour, lover and wife.
What the film does expose is the lie that Cash and Carter’s
love affair was never consummated before they were wed and,
supposedly shockingly, this myth to keep religious-minded southern
America happy is ruddily and beautifully blown apart by some
gorgeous intimate scenes. What Walk The Line does best is to
show the inevitable attraction between two stars wed to other
people yet drawn together by a genuine love that sees through
all things.
The fact they also share vocation and talent is almost marginal.
Witherspoon is a wonder. Keeping the lid on her effervescence
until it is needed, she is mature and loving, a kick-ass girl
with mothering ways. Don’t come looking for a music biography
here; after all, the songs were re-recorded with the actor’s
voices rather than that of the artists portrayed. Best to sit
back and enjoy watching Cash and Carter circle each other until
they go down in ‘the ring of fire’. |
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