Genre Grandeur – Walk the Line (2005) – Encore Review – MovieRob

For this month’s next review for Genre Grandeur – Movies About Musicians, here’s a review of Walk the Line (2005) by Me.

Thanks again to Debbie at Moon in Gemini for choosing this month’s genre.

Next month’s Genre has been chosen by Quiggy of The Midnite Drive-In and it is Documentary Films

Please get me your submissions by the 25th of Dec by sending them to docuquiggy@movierob.net

Try to think out of the box! Great choice Quiggy!

Let’s see what I thought of this movie:

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“Now I’ve asked you forty different ways and it’s time you come up with a fresh answer.” – Johnny Cash

Number of Times Seen – 5 (12 May 2006, Jul 2008, Jan 2011, 16 Jun 2014 and 28 Nov 2018)

Link to original review – Here

Brief Synopsis – Biography of the famous singer Johnny Cash as he shot his way to stardom and almost derailed it all due to heavy use of drugs during his long music tours across the country.

My Take on it – When Debbie chose this genre for this months theme, I was actually quite excited, yet also a bit disappointed since I had three films in mind as my favorite.

I therefore decided that instead of doing just one reviews, I would watch and review all  three of them.

Next up, is a biopic of two famous singers – Johnny Cash and June Carter.

Before seeing this film for the first time, I’d heard their names, but knew nothing about their lives or their music and this film helped me learn so much about both.

This film doesn’t shy away from showing how far gone the career and life of Cas was when he became too dependent on drugs to help him get through the very intense schedule that this kind of life forces people to live.

Nothing is softened here and we get to see how a troubled man like him must lead a double life between his carer and family and how each side affects the other.

Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon are both superb here and they both were nominated for Oscars for their performances with Witherspoon winning Best Actress for her performance here.

Phoenix was beaten by Phillip Seymour Hoffman in Capote (2005) despite the fact that his performance here is the much more powerful one of the two.

The music is amazing to listen to and it helps keep the tone and mood of the film at a great level.

They show how difficult it can be for a musician spending time on the road away from family and in the end becomes much closer to those around him and they start to become part of a family too.

This is a very inspirational film that shows that there is never a need to give up hope and that even if things ht rock bottom, there’s a possibility that things can bounce back if you have the will to do so especially when surrounded by those who can help you with finding a way to return to form.

On a personal note, I saw this film for the first time during a down point in my life and it helped inspire me when I thought all was lost.

This will always be one of the films that reminds me of the possibilities in life and I probably will never forget that.

Bottom Line – Excellent film that shows the way that Cash lived warts and all. They don’t try to soften any of it and we get to see how a troubled man lived his life for his music and for his family; each separately though. Phoenix is amazing in the title role and should have won the Oscar for Best Actor because he gave by far the best performance of the 5 nominees.  Witherspoon is also superb as June Carter and was very deserving of winning an Oscar for Best Actress for this performance.  The music is great and really gets the viewer in the mood for this kind of biopic because it shows how difficult life can be for a musician on the road who spends so much time away from family that those on the road start to become part of that family.  The story is told in a very inspirational manner which works quite well.  On a personal note, this film was able to inspire me and give me hope when things seemed at their worst and will always remind me of those instances in my life. Highly Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – When Johnny Cash wakes up on the tour bus, just after the Folsom Prison performance, he walks past guitarist Luther Perkins, who is passed-out with a lit cigarette in his mouth, and puts the cigarette out. Perkins died a few months after the “At Folsom Prison” recording and performance. He fell asleep in his Tennessee house with a lit cigarette in his mouth, and died from injuries sustained in the resulting fire. (From IMDB)

Rating – Oscar Worthy (9/10) (no change from original review)

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