One of my all-time favorites now

Rating: 10/10 (28 November 2010)

I'm not a biopic person. Mainly because most biopics tell me stories I already know (even if only by hearsay), so I don't sit through such movies biting my nails. After all, even if you didn't name your kids after people, whose eventful and adventurous lives make biopics possible, you probably know one or two things about them. The second reason is that it's rather painful for me to watch someone try and impersonate a famous and influential figure, for his or her failure would make me extremely uncomfortable.
And still I decided to give "Walk the Line," which had received quite a number of favorable reviews, a chance to prove me wrong. And, boy, it did! Halfway through the movie, to my utter surprise, I found myself actually watching it and not leafing through a book or plucking my guitar (which is always the case when a movie doesn't agree with me).
I'm not an expert on acting, but I think Reese Witherspoon and Joaquin Phoenix did an excellent job (not to mention the fact that it was them singing the songs). Some people say Reese can't hold a candle to June Carter. Of course she is not June. But who needs candles? In fact, we would get ourselves an inexhaustible supply of electricity if June Carter and Reese Witherspoon - a regular powerhouse of a woman - could perform together. As for Joaquin Phoenix, his very own Johnny Cash turned out to be the person I could relate to, even though I have little in common with the actual Johnny Cash.
And last but not least. Should you fail to grow attached to the characters created by Joaquin and Reese, there's a real chance you'll fall in love with the movie anyway. It gave me enormous pleasure to watch the dramatic but beautiful and compelling story of love unfold - the kind of story you usually sneer at, wishing secretly that one day something like that would happen to you.