Walk the Line

In the movie year 2004 there were three biographies of musicians released in the theatres, De-Lovely, Beyond the Sea and Ray, whereas the last one even was nominated for six (!) Oscars. All of those told pretty much the same story and I'd lie if I was to tell you that 'Walk the Line' was entirely different.

All of those movies tell the story about the rise and fall of a single character. Characters that always loved the music, characters that suddenly managed to get famous and characters that usually ended up taking drungs and fell down a deep hole. 'Walk the Line' also tells that story, it does it very well just like many others did before. The difference between this movie and all the others is that 'Walk the Line' also tells a very romatic and desperate love story. A love story that works and therefore manages to add a certain something on story, that all the others before were lacking.

What suprised me most about 'Walk the Line' is the metamorphosis of Reese Whiterspoon. I always knew her as rather shallow and annoying character, someone I barely could enjoy and mostly watched only when I wanted to see something meaningless that I could forget about right afterwards. I've seen six of her previous bigger movies and I don't belive that I somehow misjudged her in any way. Therefore I was completely blown away by her touching and absolutely marvelous part inside 'Walk the Line', that I (and I guess no one else) never ever would have belived her to be capable of.

I had to tell me at least three or four times throughout the movie that it really was her that I was watching. I even found her attractive to a certain level, which I certainly would have denied ever being possible when asked beforehand. At her side there is a much less surprising, but still absolutely brilliant leading role played by Joaquin Phoenix. For me, Joaquin is a guaranator for supherb and intense movies. Not once he has let me down and with this role he demonstrated his skills to become really big for another time.

I guess by now you understood that 'Walk the Line' is character-driven, the good news is that it easily works out like this. With all the Oscar nominees I saw up to day, 'Walk the Line' is one of the few true Oscar aspirants. I can warmly recommend this one to each and every one of you.