I'm Not There :: Wessex Scene Online

I'm Not There

26th January 2008
Helen Wilson

About this film

Title	I'm Not There
Director	Todd Haynes
Release Date	21 December 2007
Certificate
Genres	Biography, Drama, Music
Our Rating	2.0/5.0
Shown at Union Films Wednesday 23rd April 2008 7:00pm

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More by Helen Wilson

Jan 08 - FabricLive
Nov 07 - Gigs: Craig David at Southampton Football Club (Tranmission Street)
Oct 07 - Punk's Dead
Oct 07 - Singles Review: Ali Love - Late Night Session
Oct 07 - Album Review: Kano - London Town

I'm Not There Trailer

I was excited about seeing ‘the Dylan movie’, because let’s be honest he’s a bit of a legend.

The synopsis was exciting, the cast impressive, the reviews very good, and the fact that it was only being shown at specific ‘art house’ cinemas made me feel somewhat bohemian for seeking it out. I was excited, as I have already said (boy, I really must mean it) and this I fear, might have been my mistake.

It is inevitable that when you look forward to something you will end up spending two hours and fifteen minutes wishing the blasted thing would just end, or at least be at bit interesting. Perhaps that’s unfair, I should be a little less disparaging and a touch more thorough.

What we have is a biopic about, but in no way endorsed by, Bob Dylan. Six different actors play vignettes of character, from talented juvenile to inquisitive youth, misogynistic womanizer to wise old man. From the charming Marcus Carl Franklin, to the amusing Cate Blanchett, to the somewhat offensive Heath Ledger the calibre of performance is the sole salvation of this motion picture.

The concept behind the film is brilliant, but the dizzying era hopping and plot roving simply leaves the viewer feeling slightly nauseous, not to mention confused. In no sort of chronological or apparently sensical order the viewer is bombarded with snippets of metaphysical nostalgia. A biography preoccupied, in this way, with the emotive value of events can succeed, I am sure. But it must have some sort of coherence. Instead each actor is telling a story, which in its own right is engaging and curiously cinematically appealing (noticeably Richard Gere’s stint in the forest). But the over enthusiastic cut and paste method of editing results into a scrap book of short stories, doesn’t so much enlighten the audience, as it disengages them with each individual plot. Sorry Haynes (Todd, director) maybe I’m a little critical, but there was me thinking I was watching a biopic, six impersonations of Bob Dylan, not your own self-indulgent attempt at being Jean-Luc Godard.

Although an enthusiast I am not, and have never claimed to be, a specialist in the field of folk or the man himself Bob Dylan. But I would like to think that I have listened to enough of his records over the years to be able to pick up on allusions. Apparently not. One can only assume that somewhere there is a core of diehard fans who can glean some sort of pleasure from, this seemingly pretentious and incredibly disjointed mess. I fear that this is not the case however. Instead audiences are emerging across the country with praise falling from their insincerely glowing faces, fearing that to denounce it would be as good as branding themselves boorish philistines.