I'm Not There

Starring: Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Heath Ledger, Ben Whishaw, Richard Gere, Marcus Carl Franklin, Kris Kristofferson (narrator), Julianne Moore, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Bruce Greenwood, Michelle Williams
Directed by: Todd Haynes
Rating: R
Genre: Drama
2007

Times Seen:
Tim: 2

Summary: Six different characters embody different aspects of the life of Bob Dylan.

Review:

Tim: You could never call Todd Haynes' I'm Not There an unoriginal movie. He has a brilliant idea, to tell a biographical story about Bob Dylan without Dylan actually being a character in the film. Instead, we have these separate stories and characters who all embody various aspects of the man. It gives the impression that Dylan is this fascinating, complex individual. I love the basic idea here. I didn't love the execution. This movie is way, way too long at 135 minutes, and eventually, this movie starts to stink of pretentiousness. That wasn't Haynes' original goal, but he loses the ship a bit as this very long movie keeps going on and on. In the end, I'd consider this a decent effort, but not nearly as good as it could have been.

I will say that if you're an expert on Dylan's life, you might have liked this movie better than I did. I'm sure there was a lot that I missed here. I am a fan of Dylan's music and I know a little about his life, but I don't know all the details. I get that some of the connections here were lost on me, but I'd be willing to guess they were lost of a lot of viewers as well.

The stories in this film aren't all very compelling. The story is told in a very nonlinear way. We jump around to the various stories. Some of these stories are fascinating, others are significantly less so. This gives the film a very disjointed, uneven feeling. There were times when I was compelled, and times when I was very bored. Unfortunately, the boring parts started to take over later in the film.

The highlight of the entire film is undoubtedly the performance of Cate Blanchett. Casting her to play a version of Dylan was brilliant, especially becomes she gives a remarkable performance. This just furthers the belief that Blanchett can do just about anything. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance, and she truly deserves it. She was mesmerizing in this raw, soulful performance. I loved watching her on screen. She's so good, in fact, that she actually hurts the film. No one else in the cast is nearly as good, and so I just kept thinking about how much better this would be if Blanchett alone played Dylan. She is the number one reason to watch this film.

Christian Bale was fine, but I didn't think he had enough to do. He had a few good moments here and there, but he never made the film his own. His performance was completely overshadowed by Blanchett. Heath Ledger was fine, but not remarkable. I loved the performance of young Marcus Carl Franklin. Ben Whishaw was completely wasted here. Richard Gere was good, but his story felt so disconnected and underdeveloped, it was probably the most boring of all the stories. I loved Bruce Greenwood in a small role, and it was nice seeing Julianne Moore and Michelle Williams, although neither had a whole lot to do. The cast was good, but Haynes doesn't use them to their full potential.

Die hard Dylan fans may like this film, but I found it a little too inaccessible. I loved the attempt to do something different above and beyond the normal biopic. It was a clever idea in theory, but in practice, it doesn't make for an exceptionally exciting movie. This film was decent, but definitely don't go into I'm Not There expecting anything more than that.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6.5



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