A rag-tag pastiche of genius, wit and irony.
I'm Not There (2007)
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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
An absorbing, occasionally hallucinatory disquisition on how Dylan has brilliantly eluded his audience's projections.
The superb music and acting is enough to make this experiment a success, but just because Haynes didn't blow up the lab doesn't mean he made a scientific breakthrough.
When it was over, I couldn't move. Despite a couple of slow stretches -- and Dylan has them, too -- I'm Not There turns out to be worthy of its subject. This isn't faint praise. It's a full-on rave.
Todd Haynes has devised a Bob Dylan biopic that not even Dylan, for all his self-mythologizing, would have had the audacity to conceive.
This is not Walk the Line, or even Ray. It's more like Lisztomania, and other outrageous biographical freak shows created by that cinematic savant Ken Russell.
A feast for the eyes, the ears and the Dylanologist scratching around our minds and hearts.
I'm Not There is very much there in every sense: visual, aural, emotional.
Here is a virtuosic display of Todd Haynes' capacity for reflecting Dylan's forward thinking via a blend of perfectly coded vignettes. It's not a film for lazy audiences.
A kaleidoscopic, non-linear meditation with little coherence, it's bizarre, discordant and surreal - recommended only for Dylan devotees, definitely not a mainstream movie.
Though an original idea, it's not so far out: Haynes does a never-dull job of showing the many personae of a man who has no central core and who is not at all defensive about that.
[Haynes has] made a movie that looks, sounds and feels just like a great Bob Dylan song.
Richly textured with allusions to Fellini, Godard, Peckinpah, this discursive meditation on the complex and enigmatic Dylan (and the impossibility of the biopic genre) would have been utterly provocative if it were not for the dull Richard Gere chapter
It's so daring and so inventive that it feels like a strange kind of treasure.
the multiple actor gimmick is fascinating to grapple with (as is the movies comparably shape-shifting visual identity) but it leads to an uneven ride
The most unexpected external fact about 'I'm Not There' is that Todd Haynes got Bob Dylan's permission for this film.
Latest News for I'm Not There
May 05, 2008:
RT on DVD: I'm Not There is Here! Plus, News of the Blu-Ray Xbox 360 Rumors...
Microsoft comments on rumors that they'll be putting Blu-Ray players in Xbox 360s and the MPAA's best anti-piracy agents have bounties on their heads. Read more of this week's... More...
January 18, 2008:
2008 Movie Extra FILMINK Awards
The nominations for the 2008 Movie Extra FILMINK Awards, taking place in Sydney and televised nationally on Movie Extra on March 12th, have been announced. More...
January 14, 2008:
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December 21, 2007:
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