Rented Walk the Line last night, and thought it was pretty good though not great. The bad part comes from the fact that it's a biopic and it struggles with the inherent problems of that format. Plot and rising action don't tend to neatly map to any life, and in biopics, these things tend to be either obviously forced or mostly absent. I think - given the choice - I would prefer 'mostly absent' which is what this film offers. They let the actors carry it and focus on the inner drama.
Joaquin Phoenix is very good, and it just blows my mind that he sang all those songs that well. I'm a big Johnny Cash fan, and he left some big black shoes to fill. It wasn't one of those cases where I could no longer picture Cash himself in my head afterward as the actor had so assumed the role that he overwrote the space in my brain devoted the original. But then I don't really miss the real Morrison... I would pluck out my own eyes if I lost my data on Johnny. The strength of his performance for me lies in the fact that I think he's often wrong, fallible, weak and human. His pathetic attempts to please his father are tragic and moving when a lesser actor would have gone for more indignation and self-righteousness - which would be sucky and lame because that's the father's domain.
Reese Witherspoon also did an awesome (and Oscar worthy) job - though I really think there was only one scene from her that floored me - the wonderful, sad, and funny scene in the bus before the final show in Ontario. Not that she wasn't great in the rest of her scenes - just that 'the rest' were few and her drama was not the drama that moved the film - in a sense she plays the antagonist, as she is the one who sets the bar that Johnny has to rise to. Such is the dilemma of women actors in Hollywood I guess - where for every 20 films about a man's journey you get one about a woman. Sucks. Looking at the list of Best Actresses over the years, the Academy does seem to tend to give the award to a woman in a leading role in a film about a woman - so this time I guess it's twice the achievement for Miss Witherspoon to win it in a film about a man.
Also strong in the film was Robert Patrick in a small supporting role as Johnny's pop. The depth of the compelling father-son conflict would crumble if he wasn't holding up his end of the bargain. He does the 'self-righteous disapproving father' bit so well my knuckles were white. I'd rather go up against his blob of homocidal nanites than have to deal with pleasing him as a father.
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