I'm Not There (2007)

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Simply A Masterpiece

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Six incarnations of Bob Dylan: an actor, a folk singer, Rimbaud, Billy the Kid, and Woody Guthrie. Put Dylan's music behind their adventures. Put each at a crossroads, the artist becoming someone else. Jack, the son of Ramblin' Jack Elliott, finds Jesus; handsome Robbie falls in love then abandons Claire. Woody, a lad escaped from foster care, hobos the U.S. singing. Despite the terrific cast that it has I'm Not There was a huge waste of time and talent, it was boring, dull and even the actors seemed bored out of their own mind definitely not a movie that i would never recommend to anyone to see in the end of the day especially if you loved Ledger's perfomance as Joker . (0/10)

I must admit that I approached this film with low expectations after having read several negative reviews before actually seeing the DVD. The comments, for the most part, were as follows : "the movie made no sense", "it looked like it was made by high school film students trying to be artsy", "it wasn't an accurate depiction of Dylan at all", and finally "it was too long and too disjointed". I disagree with all of those comments/assessments.I found the movie to be interesting, creative, and engaging. And I'm not really even a big Dylan fan. But that notwithstanding, he's an interesting, complex individual who has had an enormous impact on not only the music industry, but the world at large.And even taking Dylan totally out of the picture, I feel that the movie worked because of the way it accurately depicted the struggles of ANY creative personality when it comes to the conflicts and contrasts between the public and the private individual. I also feel that the movie accurately depicted the struggles any creative personality has trying to maintain his or her integrity once popularity -- and the attendant commercialism that goes with popularity -- kicks in. The aspect of how fans both support, and to a certain extent control an artist was also poignantly addressed.For me, the most moving elements of the film involved the relationship between Robbie and Claire. I also was very impressed with Cate Blanchett's portrayal of Jude. The character that I found to be the least sympathetic (and/or the most disjointed) was Billy. But it was such a minor part that it wasn't enough for me to trash the film the way the other heavy critics did. I also found the soundtrack to be the glue as well as the engine that propelled the movie right along.Maybe the most amazing thing about the whole film is the fact that Dylan SURVIVED, and is still a dynamic, vibrant force -- 45 years after his huge impact on the music scene and the world. Love him or hate him -- he has endured the test of time, and in true Sinatra fashion, he clearly did it his way.

Todd Haynes has delivered his best film to date about the multiple facets of living legend musician, poet, and writer, Bob Dylan. While Dylan has been awarded the Kennedy Center Honors, this film is quite a tribute to the man's legacy and his role forever in the world and not just America. For most of us, Bob Dylan is a songwriter and musician but also philosopher, poet, and activist. His music inspired people and still does. The film is a mixture of six characters including an African American child Marcus Carl Franklin who played Woody in the 1950s. There is Cate Blanchett's well-deserved Oscar nomination for supporting actress as Jude Quinn in the mid-60s in England where the song, "Mr. Jones," comes into play. Bruce Greenwood played the inspirational role of a British television journalist. There is Richard Gere in the 1800s small town with his dog, Henry. There is Ben Whishaw who is not used enough in the film. Of course, the late Heath Ledger played a significant role opposite French actress, Charlotte Gainsbourg. Michelle Williams played Coco, an actress, as well. This film is perfect casting. The writing might need more tweaking and the ending was confusing but the originality is what I'll take away from it. This film is a perfect tribute to Bob Dylan.

On May 30th of this year, pollster Scott Rasmussen conducted a national telephone survey on Bob Dylan, and thirty seven percent of the respondents stated they didn't know enough about him to voice any kind of opinion at all. If I had to guess, that roughly one in three who doesn't know Dylan is only going to grow, and I say that with no disrespect or put down of his music. It's just that time goes by and people move on to other things, and Dylan isn't very topical today, considering how ubiquitous his voice was during the turbulent era of the Sixties.Fortunately, I've seen the documentary "No Direction Home", and was able to draw enough parallels between that film and this biopic to have a hint of what was going on. Otherwise, one could easily get lost among the character switches that comprise the story, seeing as how the players are so disparate and seemingly unconnected. My favorites were Cate Blanchett as your basic Dylan, and young Marcus Carl Franklin who traces the singer back to his early blues roots. What I found frustrating though, is that in his attempts to defy classification, Dylan goes to the extreme of a Bill Clinton who once got hung up on what the definition of 'is' is. But I think the frustration went both ways. In "No Direction Home", Dylan tries to answer a reporter about the meaning of an album cover, when all it was to him was his picture on an album cover. For Dylan, it didn't have to get more complicated than that.This film won't be for everyone, but I found it entertaining enough to give it a whirl again some time down the road. For your musical tastes, there's only a brief sampling of the early stuff that gained him his reputation, but I found it all to be a nice mix that didn't overwhelm the picture.What I found odd however was a statement following the closing credits that you had to hang around for until the very end. There in black and white, it said "This motion picture is fictional, but certain characters and actions have been inspired by real people and real events". Seeing as how Dylan wasn't mentioned by name even once, that statement seemed to offer the film maker cover for any artistic stretches provided by the story. I've never seen or heard a response by Dylan to the film, so I have to wonder what he thinks, or if he was even there.