Walk The Line
Ah, I finally saw Walk the Line the other day. I don't know what took me so long since I've always been fascinated by this period of rock music and its idols. There can't be many of them to go now, without a biographical film telling their story but I just . . . am strangely fasincated. What can I say? My mother swears to God my favourite film used to be La Bamba! which is kinda funny but I still find the film enjoyable now. I also quite liked The Buddy Holly Story because it has all those details about how he composed his songs from random moments in his life (the cricket story as a source of sound was cool, as was the story behind "True Love Ways"). I think the only film telling this kind of story that I haven't seen yet is the Elvis one starring Johnathan Rhys Meyers and that could be because I know so much about Elvis (my sister was born the year he died but sometimes I swear she's his biggest fan, lol) that I wouldn't be so sucked into seeing the reality of Elvis' life through the film.
But you know what? Johnny Cash might be far from my favourite musician of this period but I think his story is my favourite film about the period. It goes to the same dark place, screaming toward the tragedy of a bright light snuffed out too soon like the films about some of his contemporaries (and I'm guessing Elvis is included in that category even though I haven't seen it) . . . except this one has a happy ending. He was able to pull himself out of that dark vortex because of June Carter and that gives his story something the other one's don't have: salvation. He lives until he was old, died within a few months of the love of his life and he's still immortalized. He didn't need to die young to be given the same respect and that is actually surprisingly unique when you consider the angels in the Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame. I mean you can't even think of the Beatles as surviving to old age even though most of them did because (arguably) their front man was shot dead in the 70s.
I found Joaquin Phoenix's performance phenomenal and was kind of empathising on two different levels: character and actor. Because, yeah, I'm sure it was hard for Joaquin to perform a character who lost his brother tragically young and struggled with drug-related issues. Talk about cutting too close to the heart. You can really tell the difference when a film maker tells a story they genuinely care about and I think James Mangold did that masterfully. That film's a keeper.
But you know what? Johnny Cash might be far from my favourite musician of this period but I think his story is my favourite film about the period. It goes to the same dark place, screaming toward the tragedy of a bright light snuffed out too soon like the films about some of his contemporaries (and I'm guessing Elvis is included in that category even though I haven't seen it) . . . except this one has a happy ending. He was able to pull himself out of that dark vortex because of June Carter and that gives his story something the other one's don't have: salvation. He lives until he was old, died within a few months of the love of his life and he's still immortalized. He didn't need to die young to be given the same respect and that is actually surprisingly unique when you consider the angels in the Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame. I mean you can't even think of the Beatles as surviving to old age even though most of them did because (arguably) their front man was shot dead in the 70s.
I found Joaquin Phoenix's performance phenomenal and was kind of empathising on two different levels: character and actor. Because, yeah, I'm sure it was hard for Joaquin to perform a character who lost his brother tragically young and struggled with drug-related issues. Talk about cutting too close to the heart. You can really tell the difference when a film maker tells a story they genuinely care about and I think James Mangold did that masterfully. That film's a keeper.