..Gary Dretzka
..Noah Forrest
..Leonard Klady
..R.J. Matson
..David Poland
..Douglas Pratt
..Ray Pride
..Michael Wilmington

Walk The Line

Directed by James Mangold
20th Century Fox

One of the greatest challenges of any biopic is picking the time of a person’s life to paint. There is the central issue of your lead actor not being 10 years old or 65. But some have overcome that and done a full life. But not too many have done it well.

At the heart of the Ray Charles story, there was blindness, a sense of guilt over a brother whose life he might have saved, a fiercely independent mother, and a remarkable talent. For all of these things, we forgave him his drug abuse, womanizing, and occasional harshness... because he moved our feet to the toe and our hearts to the core.

So what is at the heart of the great Johnny Cash? His voice was an oddity, rough and scratchy like a sharp elbow to your side. But you could feel so much in there. He was Bob Dylan with a fist full of rusty nails.

But what is at the core? James Mangold’s film doesn’t equivocate. He was a relentless man with a restless spirit who needed someone to hold him close and to tell him, in words or deed, that he was loved. Somehow, as this story goes, he knew that he would feel that love on stage, coming from the audience. Somehow, on that stage, his guitar hanging on a shoulder, he spoke to the audience and they spoke back to him and that made him whole. But off the stage, he needed someone, desperately. And that person was June Carter Cash, who from this telling of the tale, was a kind of opposite number to John. She was raised with the love of the audience there for her, but she needed a man who really needed her... and not just for a while.

Calling Walk The Line “John & June: A Love Story” would be terribly uncool. But that is what it is. It is a movie about a princess and a prince, both of whom were also frogs and who could only become King and Queen by kissing one another.

Both Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon do their own singing and it is really pretty astounding. Phoenix offers the range, sometimes bordering on “is that bad?” to absolutely undeniable, that Cash seemed to have himself. And Witherspoon could have a recording career in country tomorrow. She does the country twang and sang expertly. And when this duo is on screen together, it is true movie magic.

The supporting cast doesn’t get a lot to do. Robert Patrick gets a good speech or two as J.R. Cash’s daddy but mostly gets to be sullen. Shelby Lynne has a lovely presence as his mom. Ginnifer Goodwin got the patent pending Jim Mangold hottie makeover, last seen sported by Brittany Murphy on Girl, Interrupted... working with good facial basics, but photographing the young actress away from sidekick status, bringing out the most beautiful aspects of her face. Still, she spends a bit too much of her screen time crying and being put upon to make this film the big step forward that her career will surely have one day soon..

There were three standouts in small roles. Dallas Roberts, best known for A Home At The End Of The World and who will be in Toronto with another film in The Notorious Bettie Page, has a great scene as Sam Phillips. Sandra Ellis Lafferty brings an easy warmth to Mama Carter. And Waylon Payne is brilliant in his first film role playing Jerry Lee Lewis better than anyone – except perhaps Mr. Lewis himself – ever has.

But it is when Reese & Joaqin share the screen that the pinball machine goes wild. Every scene of them on stage is, really, like watching them have sex. There is an instant intimacy to watching these two people who effortlessly find the perfect rhythm together... for about three minutes. (These are the jokes, folks!)

Off stage, you see both of these two fighting to find the ground. June does it out of the limelight, her family unseen until late in the movie, her marriages piling up as little more than headlines in a newspaper insert. When Johnny first sees her, you feel a moment of him seeing her as a famous object, admired in his youth. But quickly, you lose that sense of it, as he seems to, and he knows that somehow they belong together. He just doesn’t know how to make that happen. And she somehow knows that it isn’t time for this union.

They switch roles between being the immoveable object and the irresistible force throughout the story. The pain of the wait is palpable, even as the twists and the turns make you wonder. When the time finally comes to become intertwined, it is no easier than the wait had been. But what these two lovers share is somehow so right that being together is inevitably the only way either can finally breathe.

Mangold has clearly done his best work here, finally getting a story that is as taut and elegant as the performances he has always been able to help his actors achieve. There are some great directorial moments and ideas that clearly built the pillows on which these two Oscar-nominated-to-be performances by two of our best young actors are supported. Having seen the film three times now – and looking forward to a fourth – some of the great detail work bubbles to the surface. This film is a serious crowd pleaser. But it is more than that.

Joaquin Phoenix’s power in this role grows with every viewing. He is meticulously powerful. There is a scene in which he comes out of a drugged daze and his eyes appear to have literally changed color. It is a very internal role. He is a man of few words. But he holds himself as firmly as a 100-year-old oak and can quickly become as soft as a smored marshmallow. His singing as Cash is like a second performance on its own. He daringly gets better and better at being the Johnny Cash we know. His physicality is often remarkable... watch how he works his shoulders while onstage. But most of all, you can see every joy and pain in those eyes.

Reese Witherspoon restates her hold on the position as America’s top movie actress. She allows herself to serve Phoenix’s performance without any show of ego. Thing about the last time you saw a movie with a $20 million actress who didn’t find a way to get a big showy scene of her own. Witherspoon is great in the film, but she is a reactor, even in action. And oh what a reaction. Witherspoon is a wonder in so many ways. A true superstar who has managed to have a family and a career while staying out of the tabloids and making choices that are sometimes very commercial, but just as often, deeply challenging. Less than a decade from Freeway to this... seventeen movies and the only really bad decision was a sequel to her first big commercial success. (Even her cameo in Little Nicky is one of the few redeeming moments in a terrible film.) This role, supportive though sharing the lead with Phoenix, could be put in the dictionary next to “movie star who can actually act.” And she isn’t even 30 yet.

Walk The Line has some tough, heartbreaking moments. But all things considered, it is a wonderful love story with a rocking soundtrack and a joy of life. On third look, the movie is looking more and more like a Best Picture lock. Even better, it’s a joy.

- David Poland