A full-frontal formalist assault on the very concept of celebrity bio-pics... drifting and riffing on contradictions, drop-dead funny, and easily the most go-for-broke, energizing movie I've seen all year.
I'm Not There (2007)
Tomatometer
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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
I'm Not There may inspire great movies, but doesn't have the discipline to be one itself.
A kaleidoscopic masterpiece...The genius of "I'm Not There" is that the Dylan who could answer our questions is left blowin' in the wind.
By design, it lacks a driving engine, but the component parts are marvelous.
I'm Not There feels like the most alive work to hit the screen in ages.
[Director Todd Haynes] gives us a sense of how Bob Dylan bestrode (and bemused) his time.
A masterpiece of music, words and images that should get even the staunchest Dylan-haters interested in learning more about the man.
Live, breath, sing, obfuscate, exhale: I’m Not There is a kaleidoscopic blur, a puzzle confected from muzzle flash, a tale born on the prairie but with its eyes up on the road ahead.
In a movie loaded with small gems of insight and inspiration, Blanchett's portrayal of the Jude Dylan is a diamond.
Anyone can make a bad movie, but it takes a good filmmaker to make one as bad as I'm Not There.
The missteps don't detract from the thrilling brilliance of the filmmaking (aided by the remarkable cinematographer Ed Lachman), or dim the sense that Haynes was right in deciding that the fractions of the man would add up to more than the man himself.
I'm Not There offers up a daring conceit and then falls apart trying to fulfill it.
What emerges is a speculative, critical essay about the 60s, weighted down in spots by political correctness and a conflicted desire to mock Dylan's denseness while catering to his hardcore fans, but otherwise lively, fluid, and watchable.
The singular haunting beauty of I'm Not There, Todd Haynes' thrilling deep-vision meditation on the music and many lives of Bob Dylan, is that obsession isn't just its fuel -- it's the movie's spirit and subject, its driving force.
There's a lot to like: In an unexpected coup, Dylan granted Haynes the rights to his songbook so the soundtrack is a solid collection of originals and inspired covers. And Haynes has some film-geek fun aping the styles of 1960s and '70s auteurs...
Blanchett is so convincing that when we see a shot of the real Dylan playing the harmonica, I thought, 'Wow, Dylan looks a lot like Cate Blanchett' instead of the other way around.
The film is bracingly original; it's also mystifying, overlong and at times nearly incoherent. Floating at a distance from its audience, it creates its own smoky logic.
This film insists on being taken on its own terms -- the sort of demand, in other words, that defines the best art.
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...
Microsoft comments on rumors that they'll be putting Blu-Ray players in Xbox 360s and the MPAA's best anti-piracy agents have bounties on their heads. Read more of this week's... More...
January 18, 2008:
2008 Movie Extra FILMINK Awards
The nominations for the 2008 Movie Extra FILMINK Awards, taking place in Sydney and televised nationally on Movie Extra on March 12th, have been announced. More...
January 14, 2008:
And the Golden Globes Winners Are...
It was missing the glitz and glitter of previous years, but the 65th annual Golden Globes were held via press conference yesterday, with Atonement, The Diving Bell and the... More...
December 21, 2007:
Awards Mania: Spirits, SAGs Get Waivers, Announce Nominations; Uncertainty Surrounds Golden Globes
Just when you think awards season can't get any awards-ier, here come two more sets of nominations! More...
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