'Walk The Line' revisited

Look, I get it that Walk The Line isn't, like, high art or anything, and I really loved Brokeback Mountain (and Good Night, and Good Luck for that matter). Given the outstanding performances of Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon, it was inevitable that James Mangold would get overlooked for his well-crafted story and solid direction - I pretty much did that in my initial review of the movie. But after watching it on DVD this weekend, I have to say that Walk The Line is greater than just its performances, and what could have been an unwieldy beast turned out to be a tight and focused love story. It's a rare trick to capture both the essence of the characters (Johnny and June Cash, no less) and the emotional core of a story, and still entertain the hell out of the audience.

So screw it - Walk The Line is high art, after all, and it's destined to be a classic for all-time. How's that for understatement?