For Better or Worse, Todd Haynes' 'I'm Not There' Reinvents the Biopic Genre
I'm Not There (2007)
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Reviews Counted:152
Fresh:117
Rotten:35
Average Rating:7/10
Consensus: I'm Not There's unique editing, visuals, and multiple talented actors portraying Bob Dylan make for a deliciously unconventional experience. Each segment brings a new and fresh take on Dylan's life.
Runtime: 2 hrs 17 mins
Genre: Musical & Performing Arts
US Box Office: $3,728,430
Synopsis: Todd Haynes (VELVET GOLDMINE, FAR FROM HEAVEN) delivers this dazzling, experimental take on the life of popular music's most revered and enigmatic artist: Bob Dylan. In keeping with the... Todd Haynes (VELVET GOLDMINE, FAR FROM HEAVEN) delivers this dazzling, experimental take on the life of popular music's most revered and enigmatic artist: Bob Dylan. In keeping with the impossible-to-pin-down nature of Dylan himself, Haynes chose to cast six different actors to portray several incarnations of the groundbreaking troubadour. The result is a challenging, sprawling work that spans several decades and genres. Woody (Marcus Carl Franklin) is a young black child with a folk music obsession; Jack Rollins (Christian Bale) is an upstart folksinger whose protest songs have ignited an entire generation; Arthur (Ben Wishaw) is a Rimbaud-esque figure who has begun to embrace a new form of lyrical poetry; Robbie (Heath Ledger) is a well-known actor whose marriage to the lovely Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg) crumbles under the weight of his lifestyle; Billy (Richard Gere) is a slippery frontiersman who echoes Dylan's infatuation with the Old West and American folklore; and, finally, there is the substance-abusing, confrontational Jude (Cate Blanchett), who represents Dylan in the turbulent mid-1960s. Much in the same way that Dylan appropriated a vast array of musical styles to create his own vernacular, Haynes does the same thing with I'M NOT THERE, using his expansive knowledge of movie history to pay homage to a variety of movements and genres (Godard, Fellini, Lester, etc.). The typically extraordinary cinematographer Edward Lachman outdoes even himself this time around, incorporating so many different visual styles that it's impossible to decide which is the most beautiful. While the cast all fare well in their roles, it is Cate Blanchett who runs away with the picture, proving once again that she is one of the finest actors the movies have ever seen. [More]
Starring: Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Marcus Carl Franklin, Richard Gere
Starring: Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Marcus Carl Franklin, Richard Gere, Heath Ledger, Ben Whishaw, Charlotte Gainsbourg, David Cross, Bruce Greenwood, Julianne Moore, Michelle Williams
Director: Todd Haynes
Director: Todd Haynes
Screenwriter: Todd Haynes, Oren Moverman
Producer: James D. Stern, John Sloss, John Goldwyn, Christine Vachon
Studio: Weinstein Company
Reviews for I'm Not There
Only devout Dylan fans will be able to derive much sense out of it. Dylan novices can only sit back and surrender to the ride Haynes offers: It's a strange, surreal trip.
I'm Not There is funny, poignant, interesting and nostalgia-inducing, but above all it's a Todd Haynes movie, and that's a good thing.
If [this movie] sounds high-faluting and hard to imagine -- well, that's true to the film. But it's also a lot of chaotic fun.
How does it feeeel? Like a rolling shambles, much of it, and even a second viewing doesn't erase the sensation.
[A] challenging meditation on fame, creativity, on larger-than-life personality, and on whether pop culture can be ever be art, or art pop culture.... [E]ndlessly provocative...
To enjoy I'm Not There you should be just a little bit Dylan-crazy, fascinated by his talent, ornery personality and enduring cultural influence.
Alas, this isn't the first time that writer/director Haynes has created a film with a stunning conceit that never reels in its audience.
Presents its arguments with the imagination of a thesis paper...pleasurable, although exceedingly hard.
What I think the film does succeed in doing is offering not so much a portrait of Dylan but rather a portrait of celebrity using Dylan as the perfect example of someone not particularly comfortable with his fame...
There's a 90-minute masterpiece in this film, waiting for an editor to find it.
I think it’s really interesting stuff and I enjoyed every aspect of it.
It doesn't all work and it runs too long. But every fragment of Dylan's life, every version of him, from the funny to the tippy, rings true.
It willfully denies one of the sacred tenets of cinematic storytelling, that every movie -- comedy, romance or biography -- is actually a mystery, one the audience expects to see solved.
One of the real pleasure of the movie is the great acting from people who have just a few moments on screen.
Empty, literal nostalgia...Haynes brings the detached cool, making his exercise in self-indulgent nostalgia safe for hipsters.
This audaciously imagined but ultimately surprisingly conventional not-quite-biopic insists on tethering Dylan to politics, to biography, to the 1960s, to 'relevance' and -- most damaging of all -- to nostalgia.
Latest News for I'm Not There
May 05, 2008:
RT on DVD: I'm Not There is Here! Plus, News of the Blu-Ray Xbox 360 Rumors...
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January 18, 2008:
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December 21, 2007:
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