Nov. 16, 2005 - Issue #526: Sex, Lust & Love

Walking the walk

James Mangold's Walk the Line a near-flawless look back on the life of Johnny Cash

It’s okay if the first thing you think about when considering a biographical film is whether or not the lead actor, you know, looks like the character they’re portraying. “Does he pull it off?” is what people ask me when I tell them I’ve been to the Walk The Line preview. Man, don’t you worry about it—Joaquin Phoenix is so Johnny Cash that, after you’ve seen the movie, pictures of the actual Johnny Cash start to look kinda weird. I feel guilty about this; hyperreality hangover, I guess... two hours of a singing, screaming, scowling, sweating, stumbling Phoenix in my head alongside a Cash of concert clips and LP sleeves.

It’s not the physical casting that sells it, though Phoenix has much more Cash in his face than, say, Anthony Hopkins has Nixon; it’s pure power-acting. Phoenix puts everything he’s got (and he’s got a lot) into the role, taking every snarl and slump and shout, every glance and glower of those glittering hollow eyes, right up to the edge of histrionic disaster... and it works. Basically, Phoenix does the obvious, using everything that marked him a star to make us understand what made Cash a star. And when he’s up there on stage, being Johnny, his voice is championship-quality karaoke. He’s fucking on.

And director James Mangold’s camera is right there to drink in every drop of sweat; you can read the serial numbers on the microphones. Walk the Line is actually a pretty straightforward biopic—a point-to-point, character-studying, theme-revealing journey through a famous dude’s life—but Mangold’s too-close-for-comfort shooting and loping pace use the simplicity of the formula as the backbone of an unadorned story of real power. He picks his moments well, and understands that fidelity to feeling and meaning is sometimes (a lot of the time, actually) more important than staging a Crimestoppers reenactment of a historical scene. Like, check out Movie Johnny’s first audition with Sun Records impresario Sam Phillips. Did Real Johnny (with Real Tennessee Two) quaver his way through, meh, a gospel standard, did Real Sam Phillips deadpan a monologue about singing your last song to God, and did Real Johnny respond with his first-ever performance of Folsom Prison Blues? No. But we need the moment when hick wannabe J.R. Cash becomes Johnny Cash, superstar, and when Movie Johnny drops his baritone on down to San Antone and Movie Luther Perkins improvises what would become one of the most recognizable riffs in pop music history, we get it. Up close.

It doesn’t hurt that it’s a love story, either; the central fact of Johnny Cash’s life is his relationship with June Carter, and it’s a doozy, from their cutesy first meeting through friendship, estrangement, desperation and salvation. But with Phoenix unleashing every kind of ferocious alchemy, who are we gonna get that’ll believably stand toe-to-toe with him? How about Reese Witherspoon? I know, I know; I goggled a bit when I first heard it, too... but, kids, you are not going to believe what you are seeing and hearing in this woman’s performance. She’s all teeth and chin and showbiz and strength, and no matter how heavy Phoenix brings it, she’s in control of the situation and the screen. And when every molecule of their chemistry comes together in one famous duet (it’s history, but I won’t spoil it), there’s nothing to do but cry real tears.

Ah, shit; I’m gonna have to break my streak, here. I haven’t used the word “Oscar” in an article since I reviewed Ponette in 1997, but... well, there you go. V

Walk the Line
Directed by James Mangold • Written by Gill Denis and James Mangold • Starring Joaquin Phoenix, Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Goodwin and Robert Patrick • Opens Fri, Nov 18

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