| | |  | Christian | | Home » | | | | | | | Product Promotions: | | | | | Description: | | Unapologetically audacious, I'm Not There is more post-modern puzzle than by-the-numbers biopic. A title card sets the scene: "Inspired by the music and many lives of Bob Dylan." Yet the film features no figure by that name. Instead, writer/director Todd Haynes presents six characters, each incarnating different stages in the artist's career. Perfume's Ben Whishaw, a black-clad poet, serves as a slippery sort of narrator. The action begins with the wanderings of an 11-year-old black runaway named "Woody Guthrie" (Marcus Carl Franklin)--his raucous duet with Richie Havens on "Tombstone Blues" is a highlight--and ends with a silver-haired Billy the Kid (Richard Gere) watching the Old West die before his eyes. In the interim, there's the folk singer-turned-preacher (Christian Bale), the actor (Heath Ledger), and the rock star (Cate Blanchett, who has Don't Look Back Dylan down to a science). The chronology is purposefully non-linear, and editor Jay Rabinowitz cuts rapidly, Jean-Luc Godard-style, between cinéma vérité black-and-white and saturated color, Richard Lester-like slapstick and Fellini-inspired surrealism (Ed Lachman served as cinematographer). What makes the picture fun for Dylan fans--and potentially frustrating for neophytes--is that every album and movie bears an alternate title. Ledger's Robbie, for instance, stars in "Grain of Sand," actually a reference to the Pete Seeger song. As in Haynes' glam rock reverie Velvet Goldmine, the trickery involves the entire cast. While Julianne Moore plays former lover Alice, a dead ringer for Joan Baez; Michelle Williams embodies elusive scenester Coco, i.e. Edie Sedgwick. If I'm Not There is less affecting than Control, the year's other big music film, it rewards repeat viewings like few biographical features. The soundtrack mixes originals with covers, like Jim James's heartfelt "Goin' to Acapulco." --Kathleen C. Fennessy | | | Product Details: | | | Actors:
| Christian Bale, David Cross, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Richard Gere, Bruce Greenwood | | Director:
| Todd Haynes | | Format:
| Closed-captioned, Collector's Edition, Color, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC | | Language:
| English | | Subtitle:
| Spanish | | Number of Discs:
| 2 | | Studio:
| Weinstein Company, The | | Run Time:
| 135 minutes | | DVD Release Date:
| May 06, 2008 | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 78 reviews |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
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 Waste of timeAug 19, 2008
Nothing can save this movie: not a cast of talented actors and not even a good soundtrack. I was confused about this movie from the start. So many of the actors are Bob Dylan - who is not Bob Dylan, but has 16 different names. Is this movie in black and white or is it in color? Does this person try to send a message, or is the screenplay some sort of mumbo-jumbo? Or, do we pretend that we get it - yes Bob Dylan is the great one: he trascends race, gender, country origin (he is American and citizen of the world - or ahem, some sort of Jewish wonderer) - his message is universal, his poetry and music understood by people from all walks of life. Well if that is the message, than I did not need to see this movie. I already knew that.
Are you kidding me?Aug 07, 2008
A complete waste of time. I watched this once and Im selling to my local used record shop. (Hopefully they'll give me at least $2.00) I bought it for $6.99 at Best Buy. Wonder why they dropped the price from 19.99 to 6.99? I dearly love Bob Dylan's catalog and can't believe he approved this mess. Pawning this off to Dylan's fan base is disgusting, I will be very wary of any future related Bob purchases I work too hard for the money. He's lost it completely this time.
 Though it was greatAug 03, 2008
I really liked this film. It reminded me of a Bob Dylan song in that it danced around an idea and it's subject and just touched on it enough to make you understand... but when it's over you know there are layers you didn't yet fully grasp. That is what good poetry is as well. Really good poetry doesn't tell you everything in one reading, it's purpose and meaning, if it's good, is layered and requires coming back several times.
 TODD HAYNES, OPUS 5Aug 03, 2008
****1/2 2007. Written and directed by Todd Haynes. Three prizes in Venice and a Golden Globe earned by Cate Blanchett (Supporting role). Different actors to play the same complex character. Highly recommended if you know the main facts about Bob Dylan's life such as his moto accident, his relation with Joan Baez, Blonde on Blonde's electrical revolution, his conversion to catholicism or Sam Peckinpah's Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (Two-Disc Special Edition). After the masterpiece Far from Heaven, Todd Haynes delivers, with I'M NOT THERE, another essential movie.
A DVD zone your library.
Intentions misunderstoodJul 30, 2008
This is not a documentary or an insider's take on the life of Bob Dylan. Instead, it is a movie based on Dylan's personalities, the characters in his songs, the legends, the myths, the lies about Dylan, some truths perhaps, and rarely gets into the history or Dylan's impact on pop culture and rock adn roll. This is simply a beautiful art film in many ways. If you want a documentary on Dylan, this is not it. Instead, this is simply a mostly fictional cross section between what the media has made of Dylan, what the fans think of Dylan and how Haynes sees Dylan. The soundtrack to this movie, covers of Dylan's songs both popular and obscure, is really wonderful. Cate Blanchett is amazing in this film. When I first saw her, I said oh yes, that's her...but a few seconds later I totally forgot it was Blanchett playing Dylan. She was very convincing as Dylan.
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