There's a lot to like: In an unexpected coup, Dylan granted Haynes the rights to his songbook so the soundtrack is a solid collection of originals and inspired covers. And Haynes has some film-geek fun aping the styles of 1960s and '70s auteurs...
I'm Not There (2007)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:152
Fresh:117
Rotten:35
Average Rating:7/10
Consensus: I'm Not There's unique editing, visuals, and multiple talented actors portraying Bob Dylan make for a deliciously unconventional experience. Each segment brings a new and fresh take on Dylan's life.
Rated: 15 [See Full Rating] for language, some sexuality and nudity.
Runtime: 2 hrs 17 mins
Genre: Musical & Performing Arts
Theatrical Release:21-12-2007
Synopsis: Todd Haynes (VELVET GOLDMINE, FAR FROM HEAVEN) delivers this dazzling, experimental take on the life of popular music's most revered and enigmatic artist: Bob Dylan. In keeping with the... Todd Haynes (VELVET GOLDMINE, FAR FROM HEAVEN) delivers this dazzling, experimental take on the life of popular music's most revered and enigmatic artist: Bob Dylan. In keeping with the impossible-to-pin-down nature of Dylan himself, Haynes chose to cast six different actors to portray several incarnations of the groundbreaking troubadour. The result is a challenging, sprawling work that spans several decades and genres. Woody (Marcus Carl Franklin) is a young black child with a folk music obsession; Jack Rollins (Christian Bale) is an upstart folksinger whose protest songs have ignited an entire generation; Arthur (Ben Wishaw) is a Rimbaud-esque figure who has begun to embrace a new form of lyrical poetry; Robbie (Heath Ledger) is a well-known actor whose marriage to the lovely Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg) crumbles under the weight of his lifestyle; Billy (Richard Gere) is a slippery frontiersman who echoes Dylan's infatuation with the Old West and American folklore; and, finally, there is the substance-abusing, confrontational Jude (Cate Blanchett), who represents Dylan in the turbulent mid-1960s. Much in the same way that Dylan appropriated a vast array of musical styles to create his own vernacular, Haynes does the same thing with I'M NOT THERE, using his expansive knowledge of movie history to pay homage to a variety of movements and genres (Godard, Fellini, Lester, etc.). The typically extraordinary cinematographer Edward Lachman outdoes even himself this time around, incorporating so many different visual styles that it's impossible to decide which is the most beautiful. While the cast all fare well in their roles, it is Cate Blanchett who runs away with the picture, proving once again that she is one of the finest actors the movies have ever seen. [More]
Starring: Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Marcus Carl Franklin, Richard Gere
Starring: Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Marcus Carl Franklin, Richard Gere, Heath Ledger, Ben Whishaw, Charlotte Gainsbourg, David Cross, Bruce Greenwood, Julianne Moore, Michelle Williams
Director: Todd Haynes
Director: Todd Haynes
Screenwriter: Todd Haynes, Oren Moverman
Producer: James D. Stern, John Sloss, John Goldwyn, Christine Vachon
Studio: Weinstein Company
Reviews for I'm Not There
Blanchett is so convincing that when we see a shot of the real Dylan playing the harmonica, I thought, 'Wow, Dylan looks a lot like Cate Blanchett' instead of the other way around.
The film is bracingly original; it's also mystifying, overlong and at times nearly incoherent. Floating at a distance from its audience, it creates its own smoky logic.
This film insists on being taken on its own terms -- the sort of demand, in other words, that defines the best art.
A vividly imagined homage to the evolving music and enigmatic figure we know as Bob Dylan.
After showing great restraint in Far from Heaven, Haynes gets high on his spectrum of styles: B&W, color, documentary, visual metaphors, surrealism, etc.
Writer-director Todd Haynes has come up with the most interesting psycho-cultural-biographical mix in memory here, managing to make the film reek of the artsy '60s at the same time it unfailingly honors its subject.
A challenging film, one that I suspect can only benefit from multiple viewings. The success of its approaches varies, but its intent is unfailingly interesting.
Todd Haynes' impressionistic take on Dylan manages to equal the artist.
I'm Not There is an uncompromising, beautifully wrought essay on identity, artistic and otherwise.
What Haynes does is take away the reassuring segues that argue everything flows and makes sense, and to show what's really chaos under the skin of the film.
Despite its artistic gambles and the intellectual arguments it's sure to generate, I'm Not There doesn't even have the power of a vacuum. It's all there on the surface.
Haynes's warmest film yet. The thing is infused with love -- not the slavish kind, but a true-eyed tribute to the artist who belongs to nobody and everybody at once.
Forget the six impersonations of Bob Dylan. Ultimately, I’m Not There is all about Todd Haynes trying to be Jean-Luc Godard.
It's frustrating, brilliant, beautiful, maddening, hilarious and tragic, and may ruin me for conventional rock 'n' roll biopics that provide easy motivations and facile answers.
I'm Not There would make a fine exercise for graduate school analysis. I'm just not sure how well it works as a movie.
Simultaneously head-scratching and thought-provoking, Todd Haynes' metaphorical Bob Dylan drama feels more like poetry (or music) than a biopic.
...may not get any closer to the 'truth' than a conventional biopic would, but at least the movie snubs conventional formula in favor of its own, folk-rock-gospel rhythm.
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