Joaquin Phoenix might take top billing as the legendary American musician Johnny Cash, but it's got to be Reece Witherspoon who steals the plaudits as June Carter. She demonstrates all the feistiness and determination of a woman, in a man's world, quite prepared to do her own thing. Assisted by a fair degree of charisma and musical talent, she can play a stage with the likes of Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis and Carl Perkins with confidence. The film starts at the now famous Folsom Prison just before he takes the stage and by way of a continuing retrospective, we learn of his childhood - one touched by tragedy very early on, of his strained relationship with his father (Robert Patrick) then his service in the US Air Force before, gradually, his stage career and burgeoning romance with his co-star. He is married to Vivian (Ginnifer Goodwin) and they have children, but that doesn't really curtail his passion for Carter and we see that relationship evolve in parallel with his affection for just about anything that comes from a bottle. The life of this man has been pretty publicly documented so there's little room for James Mangold to manoeuvre with the facts here. Instead, we are offered a plausible speculation on just how this couple made it through. I found Phoenix's performance just a little too close to mimicry at times, but there's a solid chemistry between him and Witherspoon throughout with the depiction of his descent into chemically indeed oblivion quite sad to watch. It's underpinned by a strong score and both deliver the songs - especially "Jackson" quite toe-tappingly. This is a fair biopic of a flawed but ultimately quite decent character and it's worth a watch.
