A good film redeemed by a great story

Rating: 7/10 (23 February 2006)

The story of Johnny Cash and June Carter. That would have been a more fitting title and sounds like something you'd watch on the Hallmark channel or something like that. The story of Johnny Cash is a great and interesting one that anybody with any interest, I'm sure, has heard many times. The problem with this film is that it's just being told again. The acting is brilliant, possibly Reese Witherspoons best performance ever and she deserves to get the Oscar. The scripts is, like Johnny's music "slow like a steam train and sharp like a knife". It's these two factors that make the film so good. There was so much possibility to make this a classic but instead it won't be remembered in 20 years time. There is a great energy on screen during the opening scene and the main scene at Folsom Prison. Some of the other concert scenes, particularly when he's in a bad way, are shot really well. Bringing to mind album covers and photographs of the man in black. I think what's happened here is we have the director making the mistake of focusing on the actors and not spending enough time directing the crew. This I find strange when you think of films like Girl Interrupted, an immensely atmospherics film throughout and Identity which, in my opinion, suffers on the acting front, is made good by the production and the story.
Having had my little rant I must stress that I still rated it 8 out of 10. The film is very good and I would recommend it. I don't think you'll lose out by waiting for the DVD but if your reading this and the year is 2026 or later, I've a good feeling you'll think this is very average. Hopefully by then we'll have a Darren Aronovsky version of the life of Johnny Cash that will be darker and more mysterious.