Magnificent Legacy - Go and See It!

Rating: 10/10 (13 April 2008)

I must admit that I just wanted to watch the movie because of Heath Ledger. Maybe his tragedy makes this movie more well known - at least I hope so, because it is a masterpiece! Six (?) struggling artists are portrayed in interwoven episodes, which makes the first minutes of the movie utterly confusing. They are tied together by the fact that they are all inspired by Bob Dylan's life, and by the movie's wonderful conclusion, which I'm not going to spoil for you. Photography and direction are wonderful, the powerful images in sublime colors are so much what contemporary movies with 'stylish' subdued photography lack. At one point I was beginning to think that this movie could just go on forever, again and again switching from one character to another and showing small but meaningful incidents in their life. Acting is wonderful overall, and I especially liked the actor playing James Baldwin - yes, it was a silent extra part that isn't even credited here, but the actor still was performing - marvelous. The character of Michelle Williams seems to be a mix-up of Nico and Edie Sedgewick, which was great, since the song "I'll Keep It With Mine", which Bob Dylan wrote for Nico, could be heard in the movie, too.
The episode starring Richard Gere is the most fantastic and also features surreal masquerade, but I liked the episode starring Heath Ledger best, because the real man and artist began so much to shine through in his performance and it all had a somewhat foreboding and farewell-saying character. Anyway, it's so fitting that this off-beat piece of great art is one of Mr. Ledger's last movies, even if it's also very sad, of course ...