A very good movie

A biopic is not always synonym with success, at least, not in my book. However, some of them are really good and this flick is definitely one of them. To be honest, if there is one musical genre with which I don't feel any connection whatsoever, that would be definitely Country (the way 'Country Strong' completely underwhelmed me would be another proof or maybe the movie just plain sucked, take your own pick). Still, even though I don't like the genre, Johnny Cash remains a very intriguing figure and he has made some pretty bad-ass songs. The fact that I didn't know much about Cash made the whole thing even more appealing to me. To start with, I had never been really impressed by James Mangold so far ('Identity', 'Kate & Leopold', 'Girl, Interrupted', 'Cop Land'), but his directing was really efficient and it is easily his best movie so far. Above all, I was really impressed by Joaquin Phoenix. I mean, Reese Whiterspoon was pretty decent but there was nothing in her performance which justified her winning the Academy award whereas Phoenix was snubbed (on the other hand, Philip Seymour Hoffman was awesome in 'Capote' and probably deserved to win after all). Anyway, Phoenix was the driving force and made this movie really fascinating to watch when he did not look at all like Johnny Cash. To conclude, even though it is far from being really original, I really liked this flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

8/10