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All Movie Info
Starring:
Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Richard Gere, Heath Ledger, Ben Whishaw, Benz Antoine, Shaun Balbar, Mark Camacho, Joe Cobden, David Cross, Larry Day, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Bruce Greenwood, Kristen Hager, Julianne Moore, Kim Roberts, Michelle Williams, Marcus Carl Franklin, Garth Gilker, Yolonda Ross, Jessica Kardos, Fanny La Croix, Tim Post, Marie-Julie Rivest, Yolonda Ross, Dennis St John, Craig Thomas, Max Walker, Thiéry Dubé
Directed By:
Todd Haynes
Written By:
Todd Haynes, Oren Moverman
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I'm Not There (2007)
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Movie Review by Jarrod
December 8th, 2007
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'I'm Not There' is a biographical movie about Bob Dylan, but it uses five (or six, depending on how you count them) different characters played by five different actors to portray the various phases of his life and career, to map how he has changed over the years, and he has undergone many transformations, artistically and even spiritually, and while this is not particularly unique, Dylan has never thrived on publicity, he doesn't appear in public that often, he is reclusive and mercurial, still an enigma even to those who have studied him from every conceivable angle, his most devoted fans. And admittedly, I am not one of them. There are many Dylan songs I love, from Tangled Up in Blue to Like a Rolling Stone to Not Dark Yet to All Along the Watchtower (which was a hit for Jimi Hendrix), and I have a few of his albums, but, as with Neil Young, I can recognize his genius, but also his inconsistency, and a musician whose career spans nearly 40 years is bound to turn out less-than-stellar stuff at some point, and Dylan has. There is a whole body of his work I am not familiar with, and what I do know is probably his most famous. But, in spite of all this, this is a great film.
The actors I mentioned are not ACTUALLY playing Dylan, but they are made to bear a strong resemblance to him, most convincing among them is Cate Blanchett, as Jude, an icon who has alienated HIS (and I emphasize that pronoun, since the lovely Blanchett is made to look very much like a man) fans by changing his musical style, from acoustic guitar to electric, embracing rock and turning his back on folk. Blanchett, with the hair and sunglasses, from a distance, she looks uncannily like Dylan did in the late 60s and 70s. Christian Bale is Jack, a folk singer, who later turns up as a born again Christian, symbolizing Dylan's conversion to Christianity (presumably from Judaism, or perhaps simply from the clutches of drugs and alcohol). Heath Ledger is Robbie, a former celebrity, who now has other priorities, yet still finds the occasional photographer snapping pictures of him, as a reminder that he has not been able to slip completely into obscurity, or escape his fame.
Richard Gere is Billy, another actor, starring in a film about Billy the Kid (yes, that is on Dylan's resume, too). Ben Whishaw plays, well, Dylan, a singer being interviewed about his career (which is apparently quite rare). And then you have Carl Franklin, as Woody Guthrie (or someone who claims to be Woody Guthrie), one of Dylan's mentors and inspirations. So, you have a progression, from his early days to his later years, with stops in between at memorable, crucial moments. Julianne Moore is Alice Fabian, whom I believe is modeled on Joan Baez, who had a somewhat troubled professional and personal relationship with Dylan in the 1960s. And Charlotte Gainsbourg is Claire, who represents Sara, Dylan's first wife, and mother of his son Jakob, frontman for the band The Wallflowers.
The quality of each performance, the richness of the music itself, the intriguing and fascinating plot structure, all of these things make 'I'm Not There' a unique and rewarding biopic, one that refuses to be conventional, like Dylan himself. It certainly provides a detailed sketch of its subject, but does so from multiple perspectives, in an effort to understand and explain Dylan on his own terms and in his own words. Along with Control, this is one of the best biopics I have seen in some time. Director Todd Haynes made Velvet Goldmine, a study of a flamboyant, hedonistic British glam band, and Far From Heaven, which examined the taboos of 1950s American society, namely homosexuality and interracial couplings.
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