Walk the Line (2005)

Purely Joyful Movie!

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

The idea of shooting a biopic dedicated to the life of the legendary musician Johnny Cash came to the film director James Mangold many years ago. It took him seven years to collect all the information, all the facts about Johnny Cash and his life. The movie covers the period from 1955 to 1968. Over the thirteen years Cash experienced so many things: starting from the exultation of triumph due to the large fees, affairs with the girls and finishing with the bitterness of defeat caused by divorce and drug addiction. The life of many famous celebrities proves the fact that their life is full of temptations and few of actors and singers can fight against them. Johnny Cash finally managed to conquer them. He found the strength to return to the stage, and not just to return, but to multiply everything that he had achieved before the life crisis. This return would not take place without the assistance of June Carter, whom Cash dedicated his best songs. Mangold did not try to reinvent the wheel, trying to bring to the genre his "director's vision". He just showed the real life of the real person with all ups and downs. Mangold's film is primarily a tribute to the great musician and his great talent. "Walk the line" is a perfect reflection of the times when such geniuses as Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan and of course Johnny Cash made first steps in their carriers. Director managed to recreate the atmosphere of those years, or at least he offered a plausible film that gives the viewers the opportunity to enjoy the life story of this brilliant singer.

I have just finished reading Johnny Cash' autobiography and this movie has disappointed me to much that I wanted to stop it half way but my wife wanted to see the end and watching it was my idea, so I had to see the whole thing. It swings from being unrealistic to being in plain contradiction with the reality of events and character of people (first of all, his father, June Carter and his relationship with both) as Johnny Cash describes them. I honestly think it insults his memory by pretending to be biographical. This is not a biographical film by any means, it's a hollywood style romantic/soap opera kind of movie about an artist who had indeed a very interesting and unique life, just nothing to do with this movie.

This film describes the time when rock 'n' roll was a new trend in music. The author was able to accurately convey the atmosphere of that time. The film reveals the history of not only the musical path, but also the history of child-parent relations and how they affected in adult life. Songs Joni Kesch wrote from the experiences of life. The film is collected from the most significant moments of the singer's life. At an early age, strict education of the father and the tragic death of his brother. Further service in the army, the first wife and the beginning of creative activity. Getting acquainted with June Carter became a turning point for the singer both in his personal life and in his work, they start touring together and they have a romance. Then the black strip of Kesh's life is shown, this is the departure of the first wife with the child, the drug addiction of the singer and how Jun Carter and his family help get rid of it. The ending of the film was the moment when the beloved agrees to become his wife. The singer had to wait for a positive response for ten years. The film is at least a long one, but I liked it thanks to the actors' play.

Walk the Line is Cash's story. It captures Johnny's life from his first record up until his marriage to the woman he's spend the last 35 years of his life with, June Carter. Because of that, this isn't just a movie about Johnny Cash, this is both of their stories, his and June's. After watching this film I discovered Johnny Cash, a singer with a difficult destiny, but with brilliant lyrics, despite their fun and cheerfulness, with a piece of history from the very uneasy and eventful life of Cash. The plot tells about the life of Johnny, about his uneasy childhood, in which he lost his wonderful brother Jake, about his difficult youth and a difficult relationship with his father and his first wife, Vivian, who gave Johnny two daughters. Very cool shows serious experiences, because of which the popular singer began to take drugs and in serious quantities to consume alcohol. Also Johnny Cash was a very patient person, able to wait all his life for the girl of his dreams, singer June Carter. Very good actors. Joaquin Phoenix brilliantly played the role of Cash, having managed to completely reincarnate in the famous singer and even he himself sang all the songs, if I did not know about it, I would think that instead of Joaquin's voice, a phonogram sounds. Great played Reese Witherspoon, which I really love. The role of June Carter, Reese performed gorgeously, deservedly received her "Oscar". Jennifer Goodwin looked great, who played the role of Vivian Cash. . Gorgeously selected songs like, "I Walk The Line", "Cry, Cry, Cry", "Ring of Fire" and a single, performed by a duet with June Carter called "Jackson", which is a benchmark in the genre of country music.