Saw the film yesterday for the second time with some friends on a PC. The first time was with my mother in a cinema were we were the only visitors. Both times the film was dubbed in German. Now I usually never watch dubbed films if I can avoid it, so I made a big exception - twice.
What is so special about the film, to give it such attention? Not much one could say, but the film isn't so easily dismissible. 
As it is based on Cash's biography, if you know the story you certainly don't have much to expect plot-wise. But if not it's as predictable or unpredictable as any other film. What was the most remarkable for me, was Joaquin Phoenix, and the way he portrayed the role. I wouldn't call it a portrayal, I wouldn't even call it acting. To me it felt much more like Phoenix emerged into the character of Cash as he imagined him fit for the film. And that is also how I watched the film. Not as a bio-pic about the real Johnny Cash, but as a fictionalisation of a story that is similar to Cash's, but that becomes something else through the sheer presence of Joaquin Phoenix. It was watching him move, watching him talk, sing and stutter that was the real deal. Anyone thinking too much about the "real" cash during the film misssed the point. It's like watching an "adaptation" of a book, and always comparing each scene with the original. That's beside the point, as a film will always be something else. 
So if we leave behind the "biopic-angle" what the movie offers us, is a story of its own. 
For me the film seemed about a person who is trying to fight his inner demons, who is inwardly weak and outwardly strong, but who actually has no reason to be weak, other than that this state was first inflicted upon him by others, and he keeps carrying on the burden. What redeems him in the end is not necessarily love itself, but a person where he feels safe enough to open himself up completely. The divide between how people see Phoenix and what they expect of him and how he himself feels couldn't be larger. And trying to make up for something he hasn't done, in combination with a further fractioning of the self through the public persona, is indeed a difficult task. Though the film itself only hints at most of these things, the personal obsession, and the constant fight with inner demons already reaches the viewer through Joaquin Phoenix alone. He is the message and the plot of the film, everything else (even Reese Witherspoon as his great love) pales in comparison. The actors sing themselves, and that is a good choice as it doesn't stand in the way of their performance but furthers it. They have enough musical talent to look and sound believable. Another remarkable thing about the film was the camerawork and the lighting. Keeping the whole film in the same tone, it mostly manages to express Phenix' emotions and the surrounding atmosphere he finds himself in. In the best moments, it becomes something of a mirror of Pheonix mind, as in a remarkable scene where it follows and stumbles along with him, while he tries to inflict his fury upon a solitary room and everything in it. The cell which the protagonist has built for himself is ever present. Mangold's direction is solid. He manages to fit in some social crtitique through captioring the stifling atmosphere of the times remarkably well, though he only scratches the surface. The biggest problem of the film is often just this. Although it ran 140 min, I felt it was much too short for the material it tried to fit in. Sometimes I had the feeling of a slide-show, with the script trying to squeeze in too much information and the director not taking enough time to expand it properly. All other characters besides Cash - and at times June Carter - were nowhere developed enough to feel right whenever on screen. Either Mangold should have shown them less and focused even more on Cash, or he should have expanded the role of at least half a dozen of supporting characters. As it is, they point only in a perfunctory level towards Phoenix' enclosure and alienation from his surroundings.
In the end a far above average film from hollywood that has its directors mark on it, but is clearly dominated by the main protagonist. The story is abstracted enough to resemble a universal myth that most people carry along in their subconscious and are able to relate to. Like a greek tragedy, a cathartic effect will most likely take place with most viewers who are willing enough to engage with it. 

Grade: B