I’m Not There (*)

Directed by: Todd Haynes
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Richard Gere, Christian Bale, Ben Whishaw, Heath Ledger
Seen: April 27th 2008

* Out of ****

This review will be terribly difficult to write. Today is September 16th, and as you can see, I saw this film in April. Add to that the complete strangeness of Bob Dylan’s life and being, and this film definitely has the potential to baffle (general audience), leave impartial (me), and entertain (Dylan fans).

My enjoyment from this film was nothing but a neutral impartiality. I believe I didn’t get it, since I’ve never been exposed to who and what Bob Dylan really was. I don’t think this is a bad film, on the contrary, it's rather well produced and acted, and the writing was probably quite good (although I wouldn’t know, as I feel I missed important elements for most of the movie). I just came out of it with nothing, and that’s worse than seeing a really bad film for me. At least you get the chance to rip a film apart if it’s bad, which sometimes is quite some fun.

Six different actors play different aspects of Bob Dylan’s life, and there is very little exposition as to how they really fit chronologically. Maybe that’s the way Dylan lived his life, maybe the directors wanted it to seem that way, I’m once again at a loss of words to describe it.

I believe some will enjoy the visual composition of this film, but again, for me it came to nothing. If you are part of the general, now-and-then movie watching population , I’d recommend staying away. If you are a big art-house fan however, give this a try – its over the top artiness might just "find" you.