Abstract, poetic, not entirely enjoyable...yet recommended

Rating: 7/10 (25 November 2007)

Given its title in reference to an outtake off of one of Dylan's studio recordings (which can be found on the film's two-disc soundtrack), Todd Haynes' ethereal bio-depiction of the folk music legend plays out like a moving Picasso abstract, displaying several stages of Bob Dylan's long-lived day through several alter egos. I'm Not There is an insightfulyet extremely obscurelook into the life and times of the man it attempts to uncover and showcases a handful of actors that are as luminous as their characters.
Marcus Carl Franklin plays an 11-year-old vagabond and blues-belting prodigy named Woody Guthriea name he informally borrowed from the post-depression era folk musician. The young boy's intellect is far beyond what anyone would expect of someone his age, though his age seems to be a blanketing pretense behind which Haynes conceals the hopeful and naïve stage of Dylan's journey to stardom. Retrospectively, Jack Rollins (played magnificently by Christian Bale) is a once-enthusiastic folksinger and protester whose confident outlook took a grim turn to cynicism. In Heath Ledger's portrayal, his character, an actor named Robbie Clark, falls victim to his Hollywood-esquire lifestyle, which chips away at his marriage and provokes a scornful, agitated side of his (similar to that of Jack Rollins', who he actually plays in one of his films) that pushes away everyone closest to him. Richard Gere is a secluded ex-thief named William who signifies Dylan's fixation on mythic Western tales, and Cate Blanchettwho emerges as the film's focal studyis a restless, troubled reflection of Dylan's mid-to-late-60s celebrity. As these characters' stories unravel in a not-so-comprehendible way, the story as a wholethe big picture, if you willis narrated by the voice of Kris Kristofferson, with snippets of Ben Whishaw's 19-year-old poet, an incarnation of Arthur Rimbaud, cut in.
Give credit to Mr. Haynes, he's transformed the heretical style of Dylan's ever-evolving lyricism into a poetical cinematic experience as unconventional as I've ever seen. I'm Not There is considerably admirablethough perhaps too conceptual to be considered an overwhelmingly enjoyable timeand, in addition to its artsy, detailed go-about-things, bursts charismatic tunes of Dylan's hailed career and Dylan-inspired songs from some of today's most stimulated artists (including Eddie Vedder, Jack Johnson, Iron & Wine and Calexico) that stress a case to further its likability. If you areor ever have beena fan of Bob Dylan, his music, his story, or any of the superstar actors that play him, I'm Not There is worth your time and money, and may just turn out a well-made choice at the movies.