pleasant surprise: (re)discover the legendary 'Man in Black'

Rating: 9/10 (23 April 2007)

I took a while to get to this picture. Cash is one of the few musical artists in recent history for whom I have the unqualified respect, first because he was a great songwriter and singer, but, more importantly, because he was real. He never hesitated to do what he thought to be the right thing, he always spoke bluntly and directly, he judged others by their natures and essentially without prejudice, and he never pretended to be other than who and what he was. His autobiographies are painfully honest. He was a simple man with an unfathomable depth. This would be a better, stronger nation if all American artists were this thoughtful and yet also this open. Cash, not Ginsberg or Dylan, fulfilled Walt Whitman's hope of an 'everyman' American poet.
So obviously I wasn't expecting much from a film about Cash made in Hollywood, the capitol of masks, lies and hypocrisy.
Thankfully, the Cash family was in on the production of the film. It turns out to be a pleasant surprise. It is as slick as any Hollywood 'period' picture - I would actually have preferred a rougher edge to the visuals. But it is still pretty much Johnny Cash up there. Phoenix - one of our best young actors - captures the strangely offbeat yet hypnotic charisma that glowed out at the world from Cash's eyes, a charm that could seem alternately homespun and mysterious. Something burned in Cash's soul, and while he was completely honest about it, it still remains an enigma; Phoenix captures that as well.
All the other actors do quite well; another special stand-out performance is by Robert Patrick as Ray Cah, Johnny's father. Gosh, I really hate this guy! Yet Patrick manages to avoid slipping into stereotype, so the last moment we see son and father together, it remains believable that somehow they came to terms with one another.
The musical performances are all pretty good, although they don't quite meet the Cash standard. And the background performances by the people playing some of rock's greatest early legends (jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis, etc.) are somewhat uneven. But the show belongs to Phoenix, and he pulls it of very well.
One note on the DVD release: it includes scenes cut from theatrical release. Usually I get bored with the 'deleted scenes' on DVDs because it's quite clear why they were deleted and ought to have been. In this instance, however, their deletion is completely baffling. Most are excellent, certainly as good as any in the released film, and some are even important in the way they tie certain ends together. I strongly suggest to the makers of this film that they restore these deletions for a second release, which would give a good film a new, perhaps improved, life in the theater.
In any event, quite a good movie, and certainly an homage to Cash that invites audiences to listen to his music, and to (re)discover the legendary 'Man in Black'.