Great but Fair

Rating: Null/10 (28 February 2008)

I'm Not There (2007)
** 1/2 (out of 4)
Bob Dylan is without a doubt my favorite musician so I should probably mention this first. I've read countless books, have all the albums and at one time I owned every live concert that he had done (and was available) from 1961-2004. I've watched every documentary and I've even seen him live seventeen times over the past eight years and plan on seeing him more this upcoming year. With that said, I was highly looking forward to this film but at the same time I was a little worried at what they were going to do with it. As with Dylan the man, the legend and his music, this film is 100% weird and I'm not saying that in a good way. Bunuel, Fellini and countless other foreign directors who work on the words surreal and weird would probably also be confused by this film.
The film tells seven different stories in Dylan's life and all seven periods are played by a different actor. You have the pre-fame farm boy (Marcus Carl Franklin), the folk singer (Christian Bale), the man who settles down with a family (Heath Ledger), the 'jerk' who dared to go from folk to rock (Cate Blanchett), an actor playing Billy the Kid (Richard Gere), the sunglass wearing guy being interviewed (Ben Whishaw) and the born again Christian (Bale again). These various stages of Dylan take over the film, which is full of songs from throughout the legends career and we get to see various historical events from the Newport Folk Festival to his "Judas" concert to his eventual divorce and his motorcycle wreck. We also see him turning The Beatles onto grass, hanging with Joan Baez and just about everything else.
I'm really not sure where to stand because I really appreciate the balls writer/director Todd Haynes brings to the film. We've seen countless bio pics of musicians since the early days of cinema but there's certainly never been anything like this. The entire film plays out like an acid trip and it never really makes a bit of sense unless you know your Dylan history from start to finish. I appreciate all the various technical things done with the film from the director trying to make the 60's footage look like Don't Look Back and capture the drug state mind of Dylan. I also appreciate all the performances, although they quite often come off as weird but this is to be expected since Dylan is a pretty weird guy anyways. Blanchett is getting a lot of praise, which is certainly deserved but I think Ledger gives the best performance of the bunch. The stuff dealing with Dylan and his wife Sara (here called Claire ala Dylan's Renaldo and Clara) is clearly the best story being told. It's not shocking that this story is the one that doesn't go all out on the weirdness but instead tells a pretty good love story. The music, needless to say, is great and features some of Dylan's biggest hits as well as some lesser known titles. There are a couple covers used, which were perfect for the film and greatly captures the mood that their set.
Even with all that said, I'd be lying if I said this movie entertained me. I'm really going to need at least one other viewing to make my mind up but the film was really frustrating and for the life of me I'm not sure who is going to eat this film up. Unless you know your Dylan history from start to finish then I'm sure you're going to get lost or not see everything that's going on. I know all about the history of events being played here so I followed the movie very easily but at other times things were thrown in that I really had to think hard about what it was. Richard Gere gives a very good performance but I think this segment is the weakest. This takes place during Dylan's retirement of 1967-1973 and it really pushes things too far. The point of the protest singer hiding and not fighting anymore is fine but the way the film is told just doesn't work. Another thing that doesn't work is in fact the entire film, which is very uneven to say the least. Everything on the screen is great but at the same time it really doesn't add up and hold itself together. I'm sure some people might walk into this expecting to finally get a chance to understand Dylan but they'll leave disappointed.
Haynes uses some big moments in Dylan's life but he also throws in some very small stuff from dialogue from unpopular songs to even borrowing some shots from lesser known Dylan movies. The way he introduces the legend of Dylan turning The Beatles onto weed is rather funny as is the scene where Dylan pukes, which is borrowed from Eat the Document. As much as I admire this film I can't help but really be turned off by it as well. Perhaps I was too busy catching all the small nods, which most people will miss and this took away from me enjoying the film more. I'm not sure but that's why another viewing is needed. However, I just can't imagine someone with little knowledge of the man walking out of this understanding what the hell is going on. On a technical side, the film is brilliant but in the end it just doesn't add up.