A fittingly disjointed, indecipherable enigma of a movie, there was scarcely a moment throughout I’m Not There‘s entire running time where I knew exactly what was going on or what was being said at any given moment… and I still sat there riveted at the mix of truth and fabrication, riddles and philosophy, and reality and fantasy that director Todd Haynes could cram onto the screen. And he does it all with a glorious soundtrack and some of the finest actors of their generation paying homage to the greatest songwriter of all time.
So in its own way, I’m Not There might be the closest to a perfect representation of Bob Dylan that you can capture on film. It’s an honorable, totally oddball attempt to trap a ghost or pin a shadow to the wall.
Obviously representing the many incarnations of Bob Dylan, six different actors (or actresses) portray the folksinger/rock star/political activist/prophet/born-again Christian/rebel. And it’s just as chaotic and jumbled as you can imagine. We bounce back and forth through the many faces of Dylan in no particular order except – maybe – that we start with the youngest (Marcus Carl Franklin) and end with the oldest (Richard Gere).
On top of that, Haynes has pulled from only a patchwork of Dylan’s life… incorporating real life events like Dylan’s tracking down of his idol Woody Guthrie on his deathbed and his run-in with reporters straight out of No Direction Home and Don’t Look Back while still allowing for the fantastic (Dylan pulling a machine gun on his fans, performing from inside a carnival cage, running wild with the Beatles). Heck, Heath Ledger’s acting character seems to have little resemblance to Dylan’s life at all… outside of his relationship with his wife. Then there’s Richard Gere’s Billy the Kid. Possibly the least effective segment of the film, while still remaining the most important, it captures the isolation of Dylan’s life while incorporating the fantastical elements of a make believe town called Riddle, Missouri (one of the many hometowns our phantom rock spirit called home).
And I haven’t even delved into the performances. Some fabulous work being done by Christian Bale, Ben Whishaw, Heath Ledger and, especially, Cate Blanchett who’s practically written her name on the Best Supporting Actress Oscar already. Each actor seems to capture a different aspect of Dylan, from his beginnings (Carl Marcus Franklin), through his love (Heath Ledger), his ambitions (Christian Bale), his isolation (Richard Gere), his status as a youthful ‘prophet’ at the mere age of 20 (Ben Whishaw) and his rebellion (Cate Blanchett).
It’s hard to get a grip on, routinely perplexing and borderline brilliant. I don’t know a single other person that I can guarantee would enjoy it… but I loved it.
2 comments:
I loved it also. Actually I'm trying to track down the script right now. That's how I came across your review. There were alot of lines I would love to quote.
i love this movie give me the script please or i just need to watch the movie again and write down everything which would take more time
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