I’m Not There

Todd Haynes, who earlier made films about the myths and iconography surrounding Karen Carpenter (Superstar) and David Bowie (Velvet Goldmine), outdid our greatest expectations with his ‘Dylan film’. For the last people who still expect an ordinary musicians’ biopic à la Walk the Line: the name Bob Dylan is not mentioned once in I’m Not There, and ‘Dylan’ is played by six different actors. The title, borrowed from a Dylan song so far only available as a bootleg from The Basement Tapes, is in that regard a kind of warning. We see him as a roaming black kid (Marcus Carl Franklin) who goes to visit his sick idol Woody Guthrie; as a ladykiller (Heath Ledger); as a chain-smoking poet (Ben Whishaw); as a folk singer, later evangelist (Christian Bale); as a famous outlaw (Richard Gere); and – most spectacular by far – as a troubled, prognosticating rock star, played by Cate Blanchett.
I’m Not There is lyrical and poetic, experimental and idiosyncratic, overwhelming and stylised, black & white and colourful in saturation. The starting point is the legendary motorbike accident in 1966, from whence the film cuts forwards and backwards.
There is a great density of references to stories, songs, historic events and myths from the glory years of American pop culture. Not everyone will recognise all of them at first sight. This is also a film you want to see more than once. A monument. (GT)

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