I’m Not There

Very strange (and uneven movie) for those –like me- that know very little about the life of Bob Dylan, even when I do know his music and was one of my favorite songwriter and performer a long, long time ago. But his personal life was not one that I follow.

The movie can be at moments visually stunning, but I find that with the seven fragments of Dylan’s life that tells thru fictional characters it does not achieve balance as many are not that interesting or outstanding. The segments are not presented in chronological order and the movie moves forward and backward in time, so all segments are intertwined but with all the different “Dylan’s” is easy to follow the story.

Some describe the movie as a poem, like the poems/lyrics Dylan wrote; again not totally agree, as some segments are good and poetic, while others are mundane and less interesting.

BUT –with capital letters- what is really outstanding is the Cate Blanchett segment. Not only is shot in black and white but her performance is brilliant! She really becomes the Bob Dylan I’m more familiar with, the one from the late 60’s. Just for this segment and Cate’s performance this movie is a must be seen.

If I forget that the sixties Dylan was my time with this singer/poet and objectively talk about the movie, have to say that the director and crew dedicated its best efforts to Cate’s segment and they truly succeed. I wonder why the director didn’t chose to do the complete movie with similar outstanding techniques, even when the seven segments (Christian Bale plays two segments) are completely different one from the other as all are interpretations of how Dylan invented and re-invented himself, and the settings are totally different, the directing style and employed techniques could have remained the same. But they didn’t.

Many critics are calling this movie unconventional, yes is not the regular fare for American cinema, but is not that different from other art or arthouse movies from the rest of the world. Yeah, I wasn’t that impressed with the movie and if they didn’t had the Cate Blanchett segment I probably would have dismiss this movie as a mess. But you cannot miss the sixties segment, it is a must be seen, just remember that the movie is not chronological and goes forward and backward, so the segment covers almost all the movie!

Miss Blanchett has already won many accolades and honors, and more are for sure to come with a nomination in the Golden Globes and I hope that also in the Academy Awards. The movie also has some honors for the director Todd Haynes.

Not for all audiences, you have to like art cinema and/or perhaps be a Bob Dylan fan… but deep inside me I doubt that Dylan’s fans will like this movie.

Enjoy!!! -only the Cate Blanchett segment-.

P.S. I like the poster a lot -if you don't guess, it is Cate Blanchett Dylan!-.