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Nothing can get me sucked into a movie, into the nuts and bolts of the story on the screen, like a detailed performance—an expression of a character full of nuance and insight. Think of Al Pacino in the Godfather movies (but not Al Pacino in Scent of a Woman). More common is the weepy, unsubtle, sledgehammer performance. (Think Robin Williams in any serious role, or Naomi Watts in 21 Grams.) Thankfully, Joaquin Phoenix’s performance in Walk the Line is definitely the former.
Starting out with Johnny Cash (Joaquin Phoenix) as a child, Walk the Line chronicles his first years as a performer and his tours with Elvis Presley. He meets his wife, June Carter (Reese Witherspoon), and later becomes addicted to drugs. We see his relationship with his father (played excellently by Robert Patrick), whose disapproval combined with the death of Johnny’s older brother haunts him in spite of (or perhaps, because of) his success.
Joaquin Phoenix gives an incredibly detailed performance as Johnny Cash. It’s consistent and smooth and technically perfect. He never loses sight of the man he is portraying or distracts from the role. The movie itself, like many movies based on the lives of real people, suffers slightly from the warping of the pace to fit real events. Real life is never as orderly as standard Hollywood fiction. In spite of this, and the PG-13 rating, the movie is never boring, and it’s never improbably cute or altogether pat.
Genuine Johnny Cash fans will likely find the movie only of minor interest since it, like all biographical movies, can only be a parsing of a few years—a highlight reel. Those with absolutely no interest in country music, American history, or the man himself should avoid this movie. Walk the Line is for the in-betweeners, the lovers of one or two songs, or those who identify with an artist who never gave up and never was exactly like everybody else.
