"blink blink" Is that Johnny Cash or Joaquin Phoenix?

Rating: 9/10 (15 December 2005)

I have loved Johnny Cash's music from the moment I first heard it in my early teens, (even though I'm in my mid 20's and it's considerably before my generation) so I had a pretty critical attitude walking in to this movie and wasn't expecting to be impressed. Fortunately curiosity kept me from missing this jewel just because I was afraid of seeing a legend's life turned in to the usual Hollywood slop.
This movie was accurate and well put together. It moved kind of swiftly especially at first, but this worked well. I honestly wouldn't have minded if it had been longer.(mark of a good movie) But it stuck to the most important events, while still portraying very plainly his state of mind and how he felt from day to day through these periods in his life.
The casting of John and June as Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon was almost as incredible as their acting. Reese stole the show as June Carter. Even though the movie is supposed to be about Johnny, June was always the stabilizing force in his life. It's only appropriate then that her character captures the audience as the woman who's strength and friendship pulled his life out of a terminal nose dive.
Not that Joaquin Phoenix does a lousy Johnny Cash. I am not exaggerating when I say that a time or two towards the end, when he was on stage singing a classic J.C. Song, I could swear they were using old footage of the REAL man in black! Not just because of his looks or acting, but his voice. Both actors did flawless jobs with the singing, and even though I know it's fact I can hardly believe that they didn't lip-sync.
The development of the romance wasn't sappy or hokey but very real instead. The whole story is real, moving, gritty, funny at times and harsh at others, but always very real, straight forward and easy to identify with, exactly like Johnny Cash's music. I haven't seen a movie this good in a long time and probably won't again for some time to come.