No Direction Home: Bob Dylan (2005)

Memorable, crazy movie

best movie i've ever seen.

Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Martin Scorcese "directed" or should we say "tailored" original footage pieces (in many occasions black-and-white snippets) into cohesive story that gives a glimpse into a world back than, Dylan's background and early influences. Dylan himself talks about these times and he comes across as clear-headed, witty and faintly intimidating - he skips completely any mention about his family, like they never existed and goes straight into arrival in New York where Greenwich Village was a center of folk music and this is where instantly he found his natural place between hungry but enthusiastic beatniks, poets and all sorts of artists who embraced him for who he was, one of them. Although Dylan's motives for arrival in New York were completely different (he wanted to visit his idol Woody Guthrie) somehow destiny placed him right where he belonged and just watching the atmosphere around him in this eccentric center of all kinds of creativity is a huge thrill to see.There were literary a hundreds of young folkie artists around at this time so its a miracle that young, skinny and defiantly unglamorous Dylan got attention of "Columbia records" that eventually gave him chance to record and catapulted him into stardom. Not some private owned, independent company without distribution but "Columbia records" that charted huge hits behind commercial artists of the day, usually backed with angelic choruses and strings. Surely there was a whole team of people involved, including savvy manager who made sure that Dylan's songs were also covered and recorded by many pop artists but eventually listeners and record buyers would come back to the source. Folk queen Joan Baez became his biggest champion and proudly introduced him to her audience, for a while they were THE couple of 1960s. The documentary makes clear that Dylan could go on like a protest singer forever but something inside of him itched for a change and he had to follow his artistic muse that led him to completely another direction, so he left Baez and protest songs and moved into blues rock that alienated a lot of followers - reaction of the audience is stunning as they would literary take this change very personally and yell at him on a stage. At certain point of the movie the whirl around him (specially on tours) becomes truly uncomfortable with thousands of people having their own expectations and becoming frighteningly hostile, from autograph seekers to a journalists ("suck your sunglasses" somebody with a camera orders during a press conference) - this literate, clever and artistic young man faced a mass hysteria mixed with amazing patronizing and deliberate misunderstandings. The movie ends in 1966 when motorcycle accident literary stops him in his tracks and forced him to re-think his next steps. Amazing not only because of historical perspective of politics, music industry and atmosphere at the time but also because lots of colleagues testify their experiences and views.

First of all I adore Bob Dylan and think he is the greatest songwriter of all time! Bob Dylan's simplicity is sheer perfection, nothing fake at all! Amazing his consistency to write great songs thru every decade. As well as I equally love his voice, his voice and music are the perfect marriage...all with no ego or a front as a star!However I did not like this film, it was boring as I was only interested in Bob Dylan and not the others sorry..I'm a focus person, so my focus is Bob Dylan and that's all I wanted to see. Yes I understand it's important to show one's influences but Scorsese failed to present it properly. Scorsese is a talented technical film maker but he lacks in the air and magic why he has been overlooked many times: ( However a couple of his films were perfect. He is so grand that the smallest imperfection shadows his grand talent... A bit of personal disappointment is that nearly every film maker and writer does not mention how Bob Dylan influenced Jimi Hendrix. This film mentions other's that covered his songs but no mention of Jimi Hendrix

This documentary is distinguished chiefly by Bob Dylan's early and least attractive persona. The film catches glimpses of his relationship with Joan Baez and, although Joan sings only briefly -- doodling on her guitar as it were -- it captures the brilliance of her voice during the time when she was a nobody and Dylan's lover. ("The Madonna for free..." as she sings in one of her later songs -- "Diamonds and Rust," I believe.) The Dylan on display in this film is a thoroughly unattractive human being. And although his voice is now tolerably good, probably due to sound engineering, his voice then was simply dreadful even if the songs he sang were remarkable.

As odd as this may sound, I first saw this movie in a class I'm taking in college called Bob Dylan: The Man and His Music. It was the first time the class was ever offered--at least where I go to school. I had been unfamiliar with Dylan up until this point, other than hearing his name now and then. Now that I'm taking the class, I have so much more knowledge, appreciation, and respect for who he is and what he does. "No Direction Home" is a major contributor to this class, and while we only watched clips every now and then, we saw a good portion of the entire film. It's possibly one of the (if not THE) greatest documentaries of all time. Scorsese does an incredible job at getting into Dylan's head to show us exactly what he has experienced throughout his extensive career. The interviews with his colleagues along with the combination of concert footage, and a present-day interview with Bob himself makes this an amazing film. We see his evolution from folk to rock and roll, and all the trials and tribulations along the way. ****SPOILERS FOLLOW*** As with any movie, I had my favorite parts. His 1965 interviews were absolutely hilarious. He has such a wit about him that makes you kind of think, 'wow, what a bastard', but then you say, 'wow, what a genius' at the same time. It's kind of hard to explain if you haven't seen it. Also, I believe it's the last performance on the film, where he plays "Like A Rolling Stone" and fans are booing him--one goes so far as to yell out "Judas!" His reaction is incredible. "I don't believe you." "You're liars!" And then he turns to his band and says the greatest thing he could have possibly said at that moment: "Play it f---ing loud!" Genius. Pure genius.