Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Reese Witherspoon and Ginnifer Goodwin
Director: James Mangold
Rating: ***and 1/2

After last year's movie "Ray", based on the life of legendary singer Ray Charles, here comes another sentimental musical biopic on famous country music legend Johnny Cash titled "Walk The Line".

If "Ray" brought an Oscar for Jamie Foxx, "Walk The Line" will surely bestow awards on Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon for giving stupendous performances in the Cash biopic.

While playing the role of Johnny Cash, who rose to fame alongside Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins, Phoenix skilfully gets under the skin of the character and convincingly imitates Johnny's deep voice and mannerisms.

Witherspoon, who plays the role of singer June Carter, compliments him. Their on-screen chemistry is phenomenal.

Unlike director Taylor Hackford's "Ray", James Mangold has concentrated more on Cash's love life than his music. It won't be an exaggeration if we say the film is an emotional saga of a man who battles many odds to sustain his musical fame and marry his love June.

As the movie progresses, Johnny's life becomes complicated and June's entry in his life complicates it further. His obsession for June creates an unbridgeable gap between his wife Vivian (Ginnifer Goodwin) and him. When it becomes difficult for Vivian to cope with her husband's obsession for June, she walks out on him with their children.

Vivian's departure and June's indifference towards him increases his dependency on drugs and alcohol. But in the end, June lowers the guard and helps him in getting rid of drugs and motivates him to re-start his musical journey.

They start performing together and during a concert when Johnny proposes to her, June, who has been resisting Cash's love for nearly a decade, accepts his proposal. They tie the knot and enjoy a blissful married life for 35 years.

In short, the movie chronicles Johnny's early days in the cotton fields of Arkansas to his rise to fame with Sun Records in Memphis to drug addiction to a historical performance in Folsom Prison to his second marriage.

Phoenix, who gels with this shy singer's character with ease, manages to reflect his stage persona convincingly on screen. He perfectly imitates his mannerisms, his speech, his walk and most importantly his inimitable style of singing.

He is fabulous in those scenes where he is under the influence of drugs and alcohol and living alone - his loneliness and his anger is reflected through his dark piercing eyes.

The director has made a successful attempt at portraying both - the merits and demerits of Johnny's personality who was popularly known as Man in Black.

Ginnifer Goodwin, in the role of Johnny's first wife, impresses too.

The music is mesmerising - especially the concerts, which have been orchestrated articulately and it definitely helps the flow of the story.

In fact, the concerts play a significant role in Cash's life - he meets June during his first concert.

The director should be applauded for taking care of each and every detail of the period - from the 1950s to 70s - and presenting the ups and downs of the legendary singer so beautifully. The backdrop, the costumes and make-up, everything is reminiscent of the era. The movie is simply awesome.

A must watch!