Kelly WandWalk The Line
August 21st 2006 00:21
Look, I can't tell you how much I wanted to hate this movie. Of all the genres in all the world, the Hollywood Celebrity bio pic has got to be the most loathsome. They go this happened and then this and then this. Hollywood bio pics are the cinematic equivalent of a primary school essay about what little Johnny did on his holiday.
The second reason I wanted to hate this film is because it is about Johnny Cash. I grew up in Wollongong force fed a diet of 2WL radio. Cash's work stood out from that regular middle of the road crap the way basketball players tower above the rest of us. The sound of that voice has been imprinted in my DNA. Even when I was a punk rock scum bag living in London, I'd head off to the Royal Albert Hall to see the Man in Black. I admit it was a guilty secrt on my part but we're talking about the dark years in Cash's career. Rick Ruben produced return to form recordings were no where to be found.
So, I'm living in fear of this movie. Everyone is going out of their way to tell me how good it is. Perfect strangers cross the road to tell me to slam my money down on the counter. My doubts remain firm. Those Hollywood buggers could only mess things up. Worst yet, hearing that Joaqin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon were going to delight us with their vocal impersonations? Thanks but no thanks.
Then it happens.
Of all things, I'm sitting on the toilet and Rage is on in the next room. I'm surprised to hear them playing Jackson. Odder yet, I don't know the version they're playing. The bass is far more thumping than the original. Taken by surprise, I've been fooled. It isn't Cash at all. Well, that's one hurdle jumped and dumped.
Finally, I get it together to watch the thing and it is good. Damn good. Surprisingly, no one has felt any desire to put a halo around Cash. Phoenix is not afraid to play a man capable of being an asshole and a grade A loser. Yet, you learn to care and his inevitable redemption doesn't have you reaching for the sick bag. You are happy that Johnny and June finally get together.
I'll admit it. I felt the tears come to my eyes. This is a film that breaks none of its genres rules and yet somehow still manages to create magic. This might just turn out to be the Romeo and Juliet of our time. That's a fairly big claim but this is a romance that resonates with all the problems of our times. It isn't tidy love. There are other partners and kids to consider. It is messy like real life but it holds on to that big hope of finding that one special person - that missing other half of us.
Stop reading this crap. Go watch the movie or, better yet, take a chance with that person you have loved from afar.
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