A Successful Exploration and Cinematic Investigation of an Artist

Rating: 10/10 (7 May 2008)

I'M NOT THERE is clearly not a movie for everyone. The concept of the film is experimental, the execution of the 'documentary' is actually an amalgam of the aura and influence of one man in the music world instead of a linear history of a famous singer/poet, and the goal seems more to find the effect of Bob Dylan's chameleon persona on those people with whom he came into contact than it is to relate the story of a fascinating and important American artist.
Writer (with Oren Moverman) and Director Todd Haynes ('Far from Heaven', 'Velvet Goldmine') has gathered images, memorabilia, fragments of interviews, and responses from acquaintances and from these he has pieced together a quilt-like panorama of the enigmatic, elusive, ever-changing Bob Dylan. The result is not meant to be a precise history, but instead a 'feeling' for the man who so profoundly influenced American music in the 1960s. Haynes selected several top actors to inhabit various aspects of Dylan's life and times. The Narrator for this both black and white and color film is symbolist poet Arthur Rimbaud (Ben Winshaw) who through a series of comments opens the vignettes that reflect Dylan. Eleven- year-old Marcus Carl Franklin radiates the energy of Woody Guthrie when he is suggesting the early formative influences of Dylan. Christian Bale becomes 'Jack Rollins', among the closest of the actors to impersonate the performing Dylan. Heath Ledger embodies the love- life side of Dylan's character with the Claire of Charlotte Gainsbourg while Cate Blanchett comes closest to showing us the inverted personality as Jude Quinn - the name assigned to the character who most resemble Dylan's appearance and talk and physical reactions to the public, the press, and the audience. And as an homage to Dylan's preoccupation with history, the final version of Dylan becomes Billy the Kid (Richard Gere) in the surreal town of Riddle. Other important characters pass through this musical mélange - Julianne Moore comments as Alice Fabian, a Joan Baez-type figure, Michelle Williams becomes Coco for a moment, and Bruce Greenwood has double roles suggesting influences from the height of Dylan's career to his old age.
Throughout the film the music of Bob Dylan pervades the soundtrack, the tunes as important as the timely poetry of his lyrical output. The film is as strange as the man who inspired it, and Todd Haynes and his amazing cast of actors give us an impressive slice of our history as well as an appreciation of the aura of the strangely haunting Bob Dylan. In extended featurettes on the CD the director and cast give wonderful insights both into the character of Dylan as well as the concept of creating this amazing film. For some, watching these introductions BEFORE watching the actual movie may enhance appreciation of this art piece. Highly recommended - but the audience must understand this is not a routine movie! Grady Harp