Film Review
Cash biopic is right on the money
Walk The Line
“Ihurt myself today to see if I still feel.” Johnny Cash’s
last single was an incredible cover of Hurt — a song originally
recorded by Nine Inch Nails. As anyone who has seen Mark Romanek’s
accompanying video will testify it was a perfect marriage of timing and
subject matter, a brief, emotional retrospective of Cash’s career
interspersed with stately shots of Johnny and his beloved wife June Carter
Cash.
June died shortly after the video was made. Cash followed just months
later, ostensibly from complications with his diabetes but to many people’s
minds due to a broken heart. The couple’s devotion was legendary
as Romanek’s devastating clip subtly demonstrated but for the true
depth of this relationship — and the almost unbearable poignant
relevancy of the Hurt cover — take a look at James Mangold’s
hugely impressive Cash biopic Walk The Line.
Rather than squeeze everything into the running time, be forced to abridge
certain details into laughable notes during the end credits and build
things up to a sugary happy ending — not mentioning any names, Ray
— Mangold limits the scope of the film to the 30 or so years between
Cash’s childhood and the late 1960s. This period incorporates poverty,
the rise to stardom, the drug habit — and demons — that nearly
destroyed Cash and his subsequent, post-Folsom Prison-gig revival.
In movie tagline shorthand it’s an emotional rollercoaster and the
sort of thing that could be rife with clichés, blatantly obvious
symbolism and nauseating sentimentality. In Mangold’s hands, those
just aren’t issues. This is a biopic of honesty, open wounds, candour
and no little wit. It also features one of the best performances of the
year.
You could almost argue that Joaquin Phoenix doesn’t play Cash; he
IS Cash. This isn’t a performance. This is inhabiting a character
to the point where the line between actor and subject is blurred. The
facial resemblance is, at times, uncanny and the voice —both Phoenix
and Reese Witherspoon (who’s exceptional as June) perform all their
own songs — is remarkably similar to that famous growl.
This is a very fine movie and a fitting tribute to a great performer.
Walk The Line pulls no punches and as a result is the benchmark for all
future biopics.
Neil Davey
Starring Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon.
Directed by James Mangold. |
