I am a huge Johnny Cash fan, getting on board the Man in Black train with his rebrirth as mythic American troubaor at the hands of Rick Rubin and American records. On a philosophical level, I connect Cash with contradictions -- faith and violence, love and isolation, and a hope despite present darkness. On a personal level, I connect Cash with my grandfather. The later connection is though nothing concrete. I don't know if Pappy was ever a big fan, but Cash and Pappy are connected for me. They just seem like similar men -- hard at times, troubled at times, but with a deep capacity for love and caring.

Given my personal esteem for Cash and his music, I eagerly anticipated the biopic. The Shepard Farey posters were perfect. Phoenix seemed aptly cast. Even Reese Witherspoon (who bugs the crap out of me) seemed a good fit for June Carter.

I enjoyed the film. There were sublime moments, but a few misses as well. As a Johnny Cash movie, it was very good. As a music biopic, it falls somewhere behind Ray.

There were some great, great moments in the movie, mostly centered on Phoenix and his face. Cash's audition for Sam Phillips, where Phillips is about to throw Cash and the Tenessee Two out, turns into one of those sublime moments. At Phillips' urging, Cash breaks out an early version of "Folsom Prision Blues". Cash hesitantly begins, but during the course of the song, as the Two catch onto the song, you can see it all on Phoenix's face -- the beginning of a transition from reluctance to confidence, from an equipment salesman to a musician that would shape American music.

There are a few other moments like that -- "Cocaine Blues" at Folsom, Cash watching Elvis from backstage duuring an early tour, when Cash tells Carter of his brother's death at a lunch counter -- that push the film into greatness and cement Phoenix an Oscar nomination.

The missteps of the film I'll blame on the director. Cash was an ordinary man who did extraordinary things with his songs. Despite some "rock star" moments, like his battle with pills, Cash's story isn't a "Behind the Music" episode. Yet, the film feels the need to put Cash between the enemies of his father and first wife and the savior, June Carter. There has to be some "bad guys" for Hollywood. As a result, Vivian and Cash comes across as petulant and petty, while Roy comes accross as the Mean Father. While June is given more complexity, having her stand as the savior to Cash's demons of pills, wife, and father makes the story less complex and interesting than it really was. Cash married the wrong woman the first time and took a long time to work that out. That, combined with Cash's unearthly empathic and storytelling musical abilities, should be the crux of the story.

I also question why the climax of the film comes about as a result of a tractor and a lake. Why couldn't the film use Cash's real life moment of darkness, when he crawls into a cave to die as a result of his shame and addiction? I can even see that as an opening scene, with most of the film being told as flashback while Cash sits in the darkness?

The film doesn't hit every mark, but enough to make it enjoyable for this Cash fan. Still, I am more emotionally struck by the video for "Hurt" which I really can't watch without getting a lump in my throat.