I'm Not There (C or 2/4 stars)
'I'm Not There' is a biodrama directed by Todd Haynes. 6 Actors play Bob Dylan-esque characters. Each character embodies a different aspect of his life & career (The Poet, Prophet, Outlaw, Rock & Roll star, Born Again Christian, etc). I'll call this is fascinating failure. Fascinating, because of its style, ambition, & concept. Failure, because the movie didn't persuade me into thinking this guy is/was cool, in any way. As depicted, the film and the man ... are pretentious.
The movie starts off well. One of the 1st 'Dylans' we meet is Woody Guthrie (played brilliantly by a child phenom, Marcus Carl Franklin), an 11 yr. old black boy who worships 'Dylan', and lives his life by jumping from freight train to freight train. Jack Rollins/Pastor John (the always stellar Christian Bale) is a protest folk singer-turned-Christian preacher. Alice Fabian (Julianne Moore) plays his reflective girlfriend. And in the best 'segment' of the film, Robbie Clark (Heath Ledger) is a womanizing movie star (I guess Dylan was a womanizer, how impressive). He's married to the woeful Claire (a great Charlotte Gainsbourg). Their scenes together are sweet, sad, & deep, all at the same time. From here on in, the film starts to take a steady, and then acute nosedive.
1) Ben Whishaw (so good in Perfume) plays Arthur Rimbaud. I couldn't abide his time onscreen. 2) Richard Gere plays Billy the Kid in the most confusing, artsy-fartsy 'segment' of the film; I could have done without THIS side of 'Dylan' altogether. 3) And finally, Cate Blanchett plays Jude Quinn (resembling the closest Bob Dylan appearance & public persona). She is good. But casting her felt like an exercise on Todd Haynes' part to reel the public in, "Ooh, look, Cate Blanchett is in the movie ... and she's playing a man!". There's no other purpose for her presence in this movie. So, most of her 'segments' are more show-offy than meant for leaving lasting impressions of who Bob Dylan really is; I know I haven't a clue. These 3 aforementioned segments felt both strange & gimmicky.
I respect what Todd Haynes tried to do. He aimed to create a visual, dramatic, surreal collage of Bob Dylan's maddening meditations on life. He tries (achingly) to show just how mysterious, poetic & cantankerous Dylan could be. So, because Bob Dylan is so elusive, it would be easy for a film (made about him) to be exasperating. Because I'm not a knowledgeable fan of Dylan, this is understandable. BUT, it's the film that gets exasperating, as well.
This film's length felt interminable. At the one hour mark, I couldn't BELIEVE that there were 75 more minutes; I thought it would be over soon. So obviously, the pacing is off. The splicing & dicing of reel footage, faux-documentary, narration, flashback sequences, & dramatizations are aptly shot. But there's too many of them; they made my head spin, & it says something that all of this 'still' didn't make the movie flow well, or quickly. It's not good when a movie loses momentum as it progresses; I couldn't connect with Bob Dylan. His life was/is trippy & chaotic, that doesn't mean the staging of it (onscreen) will appeal to me.
The movie starts off well. One of the 1st 'Dylans' we meet is Woody Guthrie (played brilliantly by a child phenom, Marcus Carl Franklin), an 11 yr. old black boy who worships 'Dylan', and lives his life by jumping from freight train to freight train. Jack Rollins/Pastor John (the always stellar Christian Bale) is a protest folk singer-turned-Christian preacher. Alice Fabian (Julianne Moore) plays his reflective girlfriend. And in the best 'segment' of the film, Robbie Clark (Heath Ledger) is a womanizing movie star (I guess Dylan was a womanizer, how impressive). He's married to the woeful Claire (a great Charlotte Gainsbourg). Their scenes together are sweet, sad, & deep, all at the same time. From here on in, the film starts to take a steady, and then acute nosedive.
1) Ben Whishaw (so good in Perfume) plays Arthur Rimbaud. I couldn't abide his time onscreen. 2) Richard Gere plays Billy the Kid in the most confusing, artsy-fartsy 'segment' of the film; I could have done without THIS side of 'Dylan' altogether. 3) And finally, Cate Blanchett plays Jude Quinn (resembling the closest Bob Dylan appearance & public persona). She is good. But casting her felt like an exercise on Todd Haynes' part to reel the public in, "Ooh, look, Cate Blanchett is in the movie ... and she's playing a man!". There's no other purpose for her presence in this movie. So, most of her 'segments' are more show-offy than meant for leaving lasting impressions of who Bob Dylan really is; I know I haven't a clue. These 3 aforementioned segments felt both strange & gimmicky.
I respect what Todd Haynes tried to do. He aimed to create a visual, dramatic, surreal collage of Bob Dylan's maddening meditations on life. He tries (achingly) to show just how mysterious, poetic & cantankerous Dylan could be. So, because Bob Dylan is so elusive, it would be easy for a film (made about him) to be exasperating. Because I'm not a knowledgeable fan of Dylan, this is understandable. BUT, it's the film that gets exasperating, as well.
This film's length felt interminable. At the one hour mark, I couldn't BELIEVE that there were 75 more minutes; I thought it would be over soon. So obviously, the pacing is off. The splicing & dicing of reel footage, faux-documentary, narration, flashback sequences, & dramatizations are aptly shot. But there's too many of them; they made my head spin, & it says something that all of this 'still' didn't make the movie flow well, or quickly. It's not good when a movie loses momentum as it progresses; I couldn't connect with Bob Dylan. His life was/is trippy & chaotic, that doesn't mean the staging of it (onscreen) will appeal to me.