Film Review: I'm Not There

I’m Not There is a strange, puzzling, but entertaining film based on the many public faces of Bob Dylan.

Instead of offering a straight biopic, Director Haynes challenges his audience by having six different actors playing six different characters, yet entrusts the audience to keep in mind that each character is in essence the same man! The film stars Cate Blanchett, Christian Bale, Richard Gere, Heath Ledger, Ben Winshaw and Marcus Carl Franklin.

The individual stories presented are all different in tone and mood (and, to be honest, uneven in interest and effectiveness as well). The six (or seven) Bob Dylans shown are as follows:

1. The youngest Dylan is an African-American boy of 11 who lives as a

hobo and sings 30’s protest songs ala Woody Guthrie (Marcus Carl Franklin as Woody). His sequences are shot in lush, beautiful, earthy tones not unlike the Coens’ O Brother Where Art Thou? The scenes create rich sense of nostalgia for early 30’s America-although in one scene, a housewife pointedly tells the character, "It's 1959. Find your own time, child."

2. The story of early 60’s folk protest singer/voice-of-a-generation

Jack Rollins (Christian Bale) is narrated in current day by a former flame and fellow folk artist played by Julianne Moore and cuts to flashbacks in grainy black and white of the troubled Rollins during his meteoric rise and then sudden dash from fame (note: story "2a" involves the Rollins’s character becoming a Christian, as Dylan did in the late 70’s, and features an interview and church performance with the born again "Pastor John," also played by Bale).

3. The third Dylan is an actor on the fast track to fame after he plays Jack Rollins in a movie (Heath Ledger as Robbie). Robbie’s story, the saddest one, looks like a TV movie from the 70’s. The now established star sees his marriage crumble as the Vietnam War ends--two eras passing at once.

4. The fourth and most memorable story features Cate Blanchett’s amazing, Oscar nominated performance as Jude. The Jude sequences are purposely shot in black and white to mirror D.A. Pennebaker's celebrated1967 Dylan film Don't Look Back, with nods to 60’s auteur Fellini sprinkled in. Remarkably, Blanchett comes by far the closest to looking and sounding like Dylan. It’s no secret this character is named Jude, as he represents Dylan’s infamous switch to electric guitar, for which he was called a "Judas" by folk purists.

5. The fifth Dylan, a poet named Arthur (played by Ben Whishaw) facing down a hostile "grand jury" accusing him of selling out, does not really have a story. Instead, his puzzling, but often pointed answers to his inquisitors ("There's something kinda freakish about setting a man onstage apart from all the rest") serve like a Greek chorus for the rest of the film.

6. The sixth Dylan is an old, worn cowboy living in a strange country town (Richard Gere as Billy).His story is the most controversial and perhaps the film’s weakest. Haynes goes completely surrealistic by mixing an homage to Peckinpah (in whose Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid Dylan appeared), with images straight out of Bunuel or Jodorowsky. However, while some critics, such as Roger Ebert, felt this section "didn’t seem to know its purpose," there is a melancholy beauty to the images that more than justify this segment of the film.

Not all aspects of this film are successful. Lines of dialogue or certain images will be recognized by fans as a lyric or image directly from Dylan, but might make no sense for those less familiar with things Bob. Secondly, since there is no single plot structure, but instead six different mini-films occurring at the same time, the film will unexpectedly leap from story to story. As a result, the momentum of each narrative strand is interrupted too often.

Still, there are admirable reasons why Haynes used this approach to telling Dylan’s story. For one, no member of rock royalty has remained as mysterious, as hard to pin down as Dylan-and perhaps no performer has made such starling changes to his persona as he has (with the possible exception of Madonna-and whereas Madonna’s changes were all obvious image makeovers in order to market herself for the masses, Dylan’s seemed more like pure transformations of his persona). Furthermore, it is fitting that the film is enigmatic, as Dylan’s masterpieces, while undeniably powerful, are enigmatic as well-leaving them open to a different interpretation for every listener.

Fortunately, Dylan granted the filmmaker full access to his catalog and includes versions by Dylan himself, as well as interpretations by artists such as Eddie Vedder. The film simply could not have been made without these songs. They are the one thread that connects each story and they also add needed resonance to the often puzzling proceedings.

In truth, this film is not a biography of Bob Dylan, as the viewer will unlikely feel he or she has learned anything about the real man-which is probably the point. Instead, it is more an essay on art and celebrity, as well as an elegy to the 60’s. The film can be quite frustrating at times, but, like a great Dylan song, just because its meaning is unclear does not mean it should be dismissed.

Extras:

A nice addition is four different introductions (including one by famed music writer Griel Marcus) on how to read the film, as well as interpretations of the different Dylans.

Commentary is included by Director Todd Haynes.

Captioning is in English and Spanish. Also included is an interesting feature that captions only the songs when they appear.

Finally, trailers for other music themed independent films, such as Shut Up and Sing, are included.

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