This is a movie of (primarily) ten years in the life of Johnny Cash showing his early years recording at Sun Records and ending 1n 1968 with his on-stage proposal to June Carter. Cash is a legend, and it is hard to imagine anyone even attempting to make a movie of even ten years in his life. This movie does great credit to show one aspect of this decade in detail – Cash’s battle with drugs and the story of what it took from June Carter and others to even save his life. It is a story of redemption.
Joaquin Phoenix plays Cash, and Reese Witherspoon plays June Carter. Both Phoenix and Witherspoon sing their own songs here – there is no dubbing or looping. They both took six months of training for this. Phoenix may not look like the mature Cash I remember, but he nails Cash’s trademark mannerisms and nuances, and does a more than credible job of doing Cash’s baritone growl. Phoenix doesn’t seem to be imitating Cash or acting – he takes on the skin of Cash for a very organic performance. Phoenix was chosen personally by Johnny Cash to take the role in this movie.
The stage performances don’t start until about half-way through the movie, but after that there are many. About the middle of the movie when Phoenix steps to the stage and says “Hello, I’m Johnny Cash” – you believe it. Phoenix is heads-up for an Oscar on this. Witherspoon also plays an excellent June Carter, belting out “Jackson” in the last performance with June’s trademark growl. The on-stage chemistry between the two in the movie is incredible.
Forget the story details when watching this movie and focus on the personalities. The on-stage interaction between the two personalities is also electric.
You can find the Quicktime movie trailer at:
http://playlist.yahoo.com/makeplaylist.dll?id=1369895&sdm=web&qtw=640&qth=400
Remember – that is Phoenix singing on the trailer. No dubbing or looping of Cash’s real voice.
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