I'm Not There - Reviewed.

From everything I've seen and read recently about Todd Haynes, the director and co-writer of the new Bob Dylan bio-pic, "I'm Not There," he's an extremely intelligent, honest, creative, sensitive, and ambitious filmmaker with only the noblest intentions. Imagine coming up with the concept of casting six different actors to star as Bob Dylan's many sided personality. It's positively Dylan-esque. But there's only one problem with "I'm Not There" -- it doesn't work.

No it doesn't work - and what a shame. "I'm Not There" had so much going for it. Bob Dylan has steadfastly refused to authorize the rights for a big screen biography. Todd Haynes was able to convince him with his ingenious concept for the film. Once Dylan signed on, Haynes gathered an amazingly eclectic group of talented actors to play the roles:

Marcus Carl Franklin as Woody (Guthrie)
Ben Whishaw as Arthur (Rimbaud)
Christian Bale as Jack and John (protest singer and pastor)
Heath Ledger as Jack (the actor)
Richard Gere as Billy the Kid
Cate Blanchett as Jude

"I'm Not There" breaks fast out of the gate with lots of sound and exciting images. Marcus Carl Franklin is wonderful in the first part of the film as an eleven year old hobo riding the rails of late 1930's America in search of his personal musical vision. But it's not long before the movie begins to veer wildly out of control. With no real plot to hang a story on, "I'm Not There" turns into a collage of seemingly unrelated story lines, flashbacks, flash-forwards, and good old fashion confusion. I believe even the most sophisticated Dylanologist will be perturbed.

It's the performance of the lovely Cate Blanchett that lends the film it's only true piece of real credibility. Blanchett is literally transformed into an almost uncanny identical twin of the Bob Dylan from the mid-sixties (thin as a string bean with shocked crazed hair). Shot in black and white, the Cate Blanchett scenes range from remarkable subtleness to over the top zaniness. In fact, the only time one truly senses Dylan's presence in the movie is when Blanchett is on the screen.

Unfortunately, some of the scenes in "I'm Not There" are almost embarrassing - for instance - a clumsy reenactment of Dylan's appearance on the Steve Allen show could have easily been deleted. The scene in which Dylan accepts the Tom Paine Award from the Emergency Civil Liberties Committee is breathtakingly bad. And an inordinate amount of time is spent on Dylan's conversion to Christianity, which, in my opinion, is a particularly insignificant period in his career (a bewildered looking Christian Bale portrays Dylan in all these scenes).

At 2 hours and 15 minutes in length "I'm Not There" eventually grows tedious. The tedium was almost palpable in the small audience I was a member of at the beautiful Arc Light Theater near Sunset and Vine in Hollywood.

I suggest taking another look at the classic D.A. Pennebaker documentary "Don't Look Back," or Martin Scorsese's monumental "No Direction Home." I have a greater appreciation for both these films having seen "I'm Not There."

I applaud Mr. Haynes for his effort, but, regrettably, "I'm Not There" truly lives up to its title.

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• i'm
• not
• there
• bob
• dylan
• todd
• haynes
• heath
• ledger
• bukowski
• henry
• chinaski
• cate
• blanchett
• richard
• gere
• johnjohndoe
• engine
• mod
• custom
• bale
• dark knight
• gospel
• springsteen

[DeanLeonard1]

You seem like a nice guy, by the way, and I enjoyed your "travelogue"-style critique.

[blairtoo]

thanks for your postive comment DeanLeonard1. and thanks too for the spelling correction...i can use all the help i can get.

[1duck1duck2goose]

get off the internet. you're a wart on society's ass.

[blairtoo]

dear 1duck1duck2goose,

i take it you are a charles bukowski fan?

[RavenMadd9]

Hey Blairtoo ...it reminded me of Fellini ...

the surrealistic scenes and the metaphors to me would lose someone ...especially the trickster period of BD.....you have a great week ..I'm subscribe to your blog ...I like honest no bs view of Bs things ...the theatre in nyc was packed ...one was sold out of 6:30pm and 7pm shows........lol

[blairtoo]

thanks for your reply and subcription.

[mosostow]

I find that whether someone enjoys "I'm not there" depends on their preconceptions of not only Dylan, but what to expect from a movie portraying him.

calling this movie a 'biopic' is highly misleading as it isn't so much his biography... but a journey through his psyche; and just like his songs, while written to reflect the world around him, were fundamentally a reflection of his experience with his surroundings from the many points of views he attained by 'being' different people. (cont)

[mosostow]

This is not too different from a lot of us. We all experience the world differently at different stages of our lives. Very few of us can claim we're the same person we were years ago. He was just a musical/poetic conduit of ideas which collectively reflect our own.

If you let go of the fact this is a movie about Dylan and go with the idea that it's a view of life from within his mind (similar to the way a lot of us might view the world if we walked in his shoes) you might enjoy it a lot more.

[lishancupcakes]

he sounds like Kermit the frog

[FreewheelinLibertine]

I thought Kate's part was great. It really did grow boring, but hopefully if I see it again, I'll be able to muster up some artistic meaning or something like that. For some reason, it just seems like they're just taking well-known Bob Dylan moments and then just reenacting it out but it just seems twisted and empty but I feel I'm just basing that off of a couple scenes that annoyed me.

[grainofsandfan]

Thanks for making this and for posting this.

Try and listen to "Blood on the Tracks" and "Oh Mercy."

[violentcandy]

Anyone who refers to I'm Not There as a biopic is coming into the movie with complete misconceptions.

[MarxBakuninMe]

If you don't want to hear his "worthless two cents" then don't watch his video. But some of us enjoy hearing other people's opinions on films, music, etc.

[DylanMusic27]

How could you not listen to Blood on the tracks????

[Wowbagger86]

I guess this is a late reply "blueterrior" ;) The song you hear is "Like a Rolling Stone" by Bob Dylan (big suprise ;) ..."Piano Man" is by Billy Joel :) That songs great to!

[Wowbagger86]

33 ??? SERIOUSLY?? Or was it 3 times, and you made atypo? ;)

[rokkenroll]

The first time i watched i didnt understand a thing of what was going on. Then i watchd it 33 times and now im in love with it. Cate blanchett really did a great job.

[tenevolence]

Can someone please tell me who the hell this guy. If it's just some old guy giving his worthless two cents on this movie then he should just shutup. I mean the guy was listening to the Plain White T's on his way home. What a douche.