Outstanding movie

Rating: 9/10 (18 January 2006)

Joaquin Phoenix virtually reincarnates Johnny Cash. I am not a great country western music fan, but I worked for the U.S. Senate in the 1970s, and the real Johnny and June came by on one of their periodic attempts to lobby Congress on prison reform. I have rarely met two more charismatic and wonderful people (and that includes Presidents, Senators etc). Phoenix caught perfectly the aura of command that Johnny Cash had, and the whole movie was magic. This should be the Best Film of the Year. (This is so close to a 10, that my hand trembled at 9.) That does not include the contribution of Reese Witherspoon, who, in my book, zoomed up from cute girl to serious actress in this film. The photography is spectacular. Very few movies catch the odd intimacy of performing -- the artists are in spotlights, the audience is more a big occasional sound in the auditorium than real people -- that's the world we see Johnny and June inhabit in this movie. It is fabulous.