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Walk The Line Director: James Mangold Rated: M Now Screening 
Taking its name from Johnny Cash's 1956 country hit I Walk The
Line, the film sets out to document selected aspects of the legend's
life; specifically those that demonstrate just how much Johnny Cash
didn't walk the line. The majority of the content is concerned with
his misdemeanours, particularly those relating to his chronic affection
for amphetamines and alcohol, and more generally his difficulty developing
beyond adolescence. There is some acknowledgement of his professional
achievements, included mainly in numerous engaging and very crisply
recreated recordings and live performances, but these seem like mere
filler as Cash's struggles take hold. The Cash elaborated here is brilliantly effective, thanks largely to the work of Joaquin Phoenix. Though the resemblance isn't visually perfect, Phoenix gets everything else right, evoking a constant insecurity and timidity underlain by macho, dominating tendencies. Possessing the worst that both testosterone and estrogen have to offer, Phoenix's Cash must find release and/or distraction in music and substance abuse. As the latter overtakes the former, Cash descends into psychological depression, which in turn harms his professional and social life. As the latter in particular dissolves, Cash becomes aware that drastic self-reform is in order and in this enterprise is helped incalculably by June Carter (Reese Witherspoon). Witherspoon's June isn't terribly interesting as an individual, but is narrative-useful in finding the more benign qualities in Phoenix's Cash. He is unable to manage his life without her, her absence always causing unchecked growth in hedonism and irrationality. Their ample, totally convincing interactions on screen, particularly the lively duets, highlight this matter clearly, a new constructive energy emerging immediately in Cash as he immerses himself in the company of a person bursting with pragmatism and love. Phedon Papamichael's cinematography should be noted: characterised mainly by a relentless close focus on face which allows Witherspoon and Phoenix, both primarily facial actors, to perform with their strengths. Additionally, it subordinates social and physical context to character, taking away the former so much that Cash's problems do not seem connected in any way with his social environment. That is, while his problems may be connected to distant childhood experiences their perpetuation throughout adulthood is determined by his own choices and failures. It is the form of June who eventually provides him his salvation. In this way the film promotes a mild, swallowable humanism that gives great warmth to an already moving and engaging film.  |
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