Mediocre

Rating: 6/10 (24 September 2008)

James Mangold, the director who brought us such flawed but interesting films as Copland and Girl, Interrupted, has done it again. He has crafted another flawed but interesting film, Walk The Line, named after one of Cash's biggest musical hits; this one on the life of Johnny Cash. Actress Reese Witherspoon won an Oscar for Best Actress for her portrayal of Cash's wife June Carter Cash, of the famed Carter Family singers, and while she's solid, competent, the award she won is merely another way for Hollywood to elevate the bankability of sexy young starlets- think Marissa Tomei, Mira Sorvino, Gwyneth Paltrow, Julia Roberts, Angelina Jolie, Hilary Swank, Renee Zellwegger, Charlize Theron, and now Witherspoon. Financially, for the long term of the industry, this makes sense, so that, even decades from now, films they appear in can bear the Oscar imprint.
Joaquin Phoenix, who portrays Cash, however, is completely out of his league as the infamous Man In Black....Cinematographer Phedon Papamichael adds little to the film. His framing and vistas do little to enhance texture of the scenes, nor do they add an unconscious poetic element. Despite globetrotting, Cash's life is portrayed as static and dull, and the love story is nothing great. What Mangold does not grasp is that the real reason cash is worthy of a film is because of his singing and songwriting. When will biopics about artists actually focus on the art, and not the soap operatic stuff? But, if they are going to focus on the peripherals, one would think they'd play up the fascinating stuff, the legendary stuff, not the usual crap all people go through, for that merely shows that the subject is like the viewer, when the fascination stems from what the subject has that is NOT like the average person. In other words, as the saying goes, always print the legend over the truth. Walk The Line never trots down that alley.