this movie is habit-forming

Rating: 10/10 (26 July 2008)

I do not know if "I'm Not There" is as fun for other people as it is for Dylan fans, but if you're really into Dylan it's addictive. I rented the film from Blockbuster and watched it 4 and a half times before my eyes gave out. The movie is all the more amazing considering it had Dylan's full cooperation despite its rather unflattering thesis: that Bob Dylan's constantly changing personas are the mark of a pretentious poseur who never really believed in anything. A more charitable view is that Dylan's many masks are a defense mechanism adopted to protect him from the incredible pressures he has faced throughout his career. So many rock stars have been destroyed precisely because they were unable to distinguish their real selves from their stage persona--Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Kurt Cobain, Bryan Jones, to name only a few--just as Dylan himself came close to not making it with his 1966 motorcycle accident. If there is a real Bob Dylan in the film it might well be Richard Gere's Billy the Kid--the one trait Dylan has never wavered in is his obsession with the Old West and Americana--this is probably as close a glimpse as we will ever get to Dylan's psyche. Although attention has understandably focused on Cate Blanchett's Jude Quinn, all six Dylan dopplegangers are brilliant, especially young Marcus Carl Franklin as Woody Guthrie and Arthur Whishaw as Arthur Rimbaud. Heath Ledger's Robbie Clark is a reminder why we will miss this brilliant actor, and "Dark Knight" co-star's Father John (the born again Dylan) bears an uncanny resemblance to the Reverend Jim Jones. Of the supporting cast Bruce Greenwood and Charlotte Gainsborough are outstanding, while Michelle Williams steals the show with her devastatingly sensual portrayal of an Edie Sedgewick-based character. An amazing film you have to see to believe. But please see it.