Question

Film /. Walk the Line (2005)

Walk the Line, starring Reese Witherspoon and Joaquin Phoenix and centering on life and times of Johnny Cash.

1) Provide a brief synopsis of the film?

2) Describe Johnny Cash lifestyle as depicted in the film?

3) Address the rockabilly style of Cash music in regards to lyrical content, rhythm, instrumentation, harmony, and melody?

Answer 1

1. Director James Mangold’s 2005 movie “ Walk the Line” follows the musical biography of the American country singer Jonny Cash. Drawing from real life events, it seesthe protagonist, Cash ( played by Joaqin Phoenix) experience Hard times growing up under a hegemonic father, incur professional obscurity as a struggling artist and finally meet success and stardom, romantic adventures, at the cost of a dwindling marriage aynd a tragic history with drugs and alcohol abuse. The climax of in movie is built through the insertion of June Carter ( starring Reese Witherspoon), daughter to the Carter Family who were country royalty ever since the days their of broadcasts from a high-powered pirate station across the river from Del Rio, Texas. June is depicted as a tenacious, sane woman who is also an experienced stage performer given her family legacy, but who is nonetheless unsure of her own musical ability abates some of the imagined negative criticism from her audience by deflecting it with a comic artist persona. Carter’s association with Cash on the stage and joint projects lead them towards exploring a more intimate relation and finding love. However, apprehensions about Cash’s drug abuse and his marriage make Carter choose otherwise and she keeps her distance from him. In the end, the movie sees Carter and her family make positive intervention in Cash’s plummeting career and health and support him in beating the addiction,and reaching a more lasting stardom.

Cash embarks on a tour with June and his band. And along the way proposes to marry her. After being refused, he asks her again while performing live on stage. He abruptly breaks his song and announces that he can’t sing further unless she reconsiders. The movie sees the two embracing each other in an agreement in a moment of passion with the audience in the background.