I am usually very reluctant to watch a biopic. They almost always get good reviews, but to me they all seem somewhat the same. They always end up going on too long, and (especially when they're about creative people) they tend to have the same plot points: childhood, early career, fame, drugs, rehabilitation, happy ending. They are usually well made and feature good actors, but I just can't seem to get into them. Notable exceptions are The Aviator, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, and probably a couple others I can't think of right now. And, I am happy to say, Walk the Line is the newest addition to the list of biopics that did not bore me.
Let's start with the music. Any film featuring the music of Johnny Cash is automatically of interest to me. And the way the movie made me feel about the music is equally important. I felt I was rediscovering some of these songs.
And the performances are extraordinary; they are what really drive the film. Joaquin Phoenix sounds just like Johnny Cash (and I think director James Mangold knows that Phoenix looks like Cash from profile, because he uses an endless amount of these types of shots). Reese Witherspoon brings an unparalleled energy. She is such a great actress and she so rarely gets cast in anything worth doing. I'm very glad she is in this movie.
I think Mangold avoids the problems that a lot of biopics run into by keeping Walk the Line focused. There is no attempt made to include Cash's entire story, and the film is better for it. More manageable and more watchable. It focuses on Cash's issues with his father and his relationships with women. And it handles these issues very interestingly and lovingly.
There are a couple small problems (a sad note of music with a shot of Phoenix looking depressed after every problematic scene, for example) but they don't bother me that much. I would recommend this movie, but I think I'm the last person in the country to have seen it.
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