I'm Not There

Cate Blanchett, Heath Ledger, Christian Bale, Ben Whishaw, Richard Gere, Marcus Carl Franklin, Bruce Greenwood, Charlotte Gainsbourg

Dir. Todd Haynes
Scr. Todd Haynes & Oren Moverman

I was desperate to see this film. It fascinated me – six actors (including a woman and a child) playing Bob Dylan, but none of them actually playing Bob Dylan. Critically acclaimed, I’m Not There is an interesting and highly quotable film. It is also frustrating, extremely self-aware and, at times, yawn-inducing. The problem with this ambitious movie is that director/writer Haynes is under the mistaken assumption that everyone knows as much about Dylan has he does. I don’t. I think you’d struggle to find one in twenty people who do. This doesn’t necessarily make I’m Not There a failure, but it certainly makes it an unusual trip to the cinema.

I’m not going to try and summarise the plot of this film. It’s probably the least linear American film I have ever seen. Basically, we follow six different characters and the people surrounding them, in different eras and cities, who all represent an aspect of Bob Dylan’s life. Some of the characters are made up – an actor, a couple of singers. Some of the characters have existed in real life – Arthur Rimbaud, for example, was a French poet in the late 19th century; Billy the Kid was a famous American outlaw. All help tell the story of Dylan’s life – his many personalities and incarnations. Does it work? Well, kind of. Some were spot-on and easily recognisable. Some were a bit of a stretch. And some just didn’t make sense – for example, unless you know that (a) Dylan wrote the music for a movie about Billy the Kid and (b) Dylan vanished from the public eye for a number of years, how on earth does an elderly, in-hiding Billy the Kid represent Dylan? It’s problematic.

What saved I’m Not There for me was a number of fantastic performances. The six “Dylans” were all great. Gere, as Billy the Kid, was nicely weathered and noble. Ledger, as an actor who played one of the other “Dylans” (a singer) in a film – confusing, sorry! – was both unlikeable and immensely human. (Special mention also to Charlotte Gainsbourg, who plays Ledger’s wife – beautiful and haunting). Marcus Carl Franklin, a young black kid who christened himself Woody Guthrie (one of Dylan’s heroes), was heart-breaking and a great singer. For me, however, the stand outs were the three actors who played the most recognisable incarnations of Dylan – Whishaw as Rimbaud (think Dylan, the poet), Bale as singer Jack Rollins (think early Dylan), and Blanchett as singer Jude Quinn (think post-acoustic Dylan). Whishaw and Bale were outstanding and, sadly, underutilised. Both tortured and profound, this is the Dylan most know. The show really does belong to Blanchett however, who’s “Dylan” we get to know the most. Just like Dylan lost many, many fans when he “abandoned” folk music and plugged in his guitar, Blanchett’s Jude Quinn is suffering from the heavy weight of public expectation and stereotyping. As Whishaw’s Rimbaud warns “never create anything …it will chain you and follow you for the rest of your life”. Blanchett is phenomenal in this role – she really becomes “Dylan”.

I’m not going to completely dismiss I’m Not There. If you’re a huge Dylan fan, definitely see it - I am certain I missed half the point of the film because of my lack of Dylan knowledge. If you’re not, well, maybe not. But once it hits DVD, I may in fact watch it again. This movie would benefit greatly from the fast-forward button. If I could just watch the bits I really, really liked (and there were several), I would be a very happy camper.

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Arthur Rimbaud: Seven simple rules of going into hiding: one, never trust a cop in a raincoat. Two, beware of enthusiasm and of love, both are temporary and quick to sway. Three, if asked if you care about the world's problems, look deep into the eyes of he who asks, he will never ask you again. Four, never give your real name. Five, if ever asked to look at yourself, don’t. Six, never do anything the person standing in front of you cannot understand. And finally seven, never create anything, it will be misinterpreted, it will chain you and follow you for the rest of your life.