I'm Not There

"It's like you got yesterday, today and tomorrow, all in the same room. There's no telling what can happen."

Recently, I've gotten into Bob Dylan's music, I also watched a few interviews with him on youtube, etc. After reading up a bit on this, and watching the trailer I decided I'd watch this despite I reading that it apparently wasn't much of an accurate perception of Dylan. The person who said that completely misunderstood the film.

• Title: I'm Not There
• Year of Release: 2007
• Director: Todd Haynes
• Genre: Drama/Music
• Rating: 8.5/10

This film is about 6 characters who all play a different aspect of how Bob Dylan is viewed by the public, this is not a biography or a chronicle of his life. As I've said, it is how he is seen.

Christian Bale is Jack, he portrays Dylan's "Folk" music era (I don't like saying that, as said in the film "Everybody knows I'm not a folk singer") and is told by those who knew him like a documentary, reminiscent of Scorsese's Documentary on Dylan, "No Direction Home". Bale is definitely the weakest link in this film, his acting was mediocre at best, it felt very forced, he tried too hard to look and seem like Dylan and it was very obvious.

Marcus Carl Franklin plays Woody Guthrie, a young African-American boy who has traveled across the United States, whom is inspired by the real Woody Guthrie. The boy has the words "This Machine Kills Fascists" written on it much like Guthrie did too. The real Woody Guthrie inspired a large amount of "Folk" musicians. Franklin plays his part very well, he certainly doesn't feel like Dylan nor should he, really. This aspect of the film was quite interesting, and Franklin definitely plays his part with obvious pride and maturity.

Ben Whishaw plays Arthur Rimbaud (the real Rimbaud was a poet) who is quite rebellious and throughout the film is in the same room, it looks like an interrogation room where he talks about pretty much what is happening in the movie, narrating it if you will. I don't know if this is relevant to this aspect, but I do know some fans believe the government grabbed Dylan because of his songs being quite protesting and brainwashed him, which led to his new electric style. Regardless, Whishaw does a great job in his role, it is quite obvious too he is trying to do common traits of Dylan I've noticed in some of his interviews, but unlike Bale he does them smoothly and they feel like they are common.

Richard Gere plays Billy who is more focused on being the elderly Dylan of today, though it is set in a different time. Richard Gere performed well enough, much better than I had expected, I had my doubts about him. He was well supported with a brilliant script though. During his aspect it seemed more to me that he wasn't as much as Dylan as the surroundings were, an example of this I guess is when you see a man seeing a song during the memorial of the woman who has died, he wears white makeup much like Dylan did to mask his emotions during rough times, also wearing a similar hat as I've seen when Dylan had the makeup on, I can't really think of any other examples from this aspect, but you get my point.

Heath Ledger plays Robbie Clark who is a famous actor in the film, this aspect of the film focuses more on Dylan's disfunctional personal life. Ledger unlike Whishaw, Bale and Blanchett I feel Ledger makes the part seem more of his own instead of trying to become Dylan, or anything like that, sure I guess there are some minor elements which he is trying to implement to remind you of Dylan, but they aren't near as significant as those others. Ledger in my opinion shines the most in this film and after watching an interview with him on "I'm Not There" it is clear he "gets" the film, which is definitely a bonus.

Last but not least, Cate Blanchett plays Jude Quinn, Blanchett definitely had the hardest part to tackle of the entire cast, her part focuses on Dylan during the height of his fame. Her part starts just after he "sells out" and goes electric. Blanchett as well tries to feel and look like Bob Dylan, and she succeeds the most in this aspect, as well her acting was fantastic, it was easy to forget that it was a woman, which wasn't a problem in the first place anyway. Her part was not just the hardest but it was the most important and it was gone about perfectly. She deserved her nomination at the Oscars, but if you ask me, Ledger was the best in this film.

The music, as expected, was terrific, I'm not sure exactly what the theme was that kept going throughout the film randomly but it didn't sound like a part of a Dylan song (I feel ashamed with fear that it actually is) but instead an original score. The music was definitely an important part of this film, though the bulk of it was cover songs, minus the finale song "I'm Not There". The films cinematography was terrific, every frame seemed like art, 'twas amazing.

Another aspect (a word I've used a lot today) of the film I enjoyed was seeing parts which were quotes from Dylan himself, or references to his songs. As well, minor reenactments of some of his interviews, example, in the car where Jude Quinn says "How can I answer that if you got the nerve to ask me?", this just added to my enjoyment of the film.

I highly recommend this to Dylan fans, DO NOT expect a biography of Dylan's life, this is not what this is, and to be honest, I'm quite glad, because the way this was done was very creative and original. Anyone could watch this, I guess, but it may not make too much sense and it will be a lot less significant than if your a fan of Dylan. If you did want to see this film, I recommend you at least watch and read up a little on Dylan just so you know a little about the man, even if you don't like his music.

Click me to view the trailer!