Brianland

 

I’m Not There — film review

“Life is a crazy, dark circus.”

FANTASTIC, inspired filmmaking.  (I gotta look for more Todd Haynes.)  Maybe I was super-well prepared for it by this late date, but as it was, I could easily follow it, and it painted a brilliant million-dollar-picture.

Obviously the unsuspecting could be caught off guard by the allegory and non-linear storyline, and I can see how it might come across as not entertaining for non Dylan fans — but for those familiar with this major artist’s life and work, it’s full of humor and impeccable detail in scene recreations (which are then played with), all mixed in with archival footage of Greenwich Village and such — especially the dustbowl Hattie Carroll, and all the Don’t Look Back reenactments! 🙂 . . . the press conference, the hotel rooms, the encounter with the Duchess, and the overly analytical fan!

I just LOVED the script!  How it skipped around in time, but still flowingly told a chronological story.  It was like a merge between Bob’s books Tarantula and Chronicles — poetically licensed autobiography (see, also: Kerouac, Jack).

And nobody seems to talk much about the editing, but it’s Brilliant!  And the sound editing, and cinematography.

It was a lot like Masked & Anonymous — both very surreal musical dramedies starring Another Side of Bob Dylan — both with similar wonderful soundtracks of original Bob mixed with other’s versions — and both featuring a calliope of strange characters, and with a black child singing and stealing the show.
And B), it’s a helluva lot like Renaldo & Clara in many of the same ways. Life is a crazy, dark circus.

This is the kind of movie, like a great CD, that you could just put on at a party and let it play in the background — a series of music & words with images, called “scenes” instead of “songs” — you can dip in and out anytime, for as long as you want, then go back to your conversation.  🙂  With all the Bob-inspired dialog and songs woven together it’s like a Dylan musical for two hours.

And how ‘bout that hilarious scene at the cross on the hill with Ginsberg & Bob yelling up at it!  “Why don’t you do your early stuff?!”

Or that sweet Hitchcockian overhead B&W slow zoom-in of Dylan writing Tarantula with all the pictures surrounding him on the floor.

Or the scene in the car after the great, “That was Allen Ginsberg, man!” –> into the battle between Bob and the reporter –>  into that epic Ballad of a Thin Man!! Sick!

And do not miss the continuous-take soliloquy Cate Blanchett delivers in the car at end.  The lighting, the window reflections, the final wicked sly smile to the camera … that‘s what filmmaking is all about.  And not fer nuthin but — Cate Blanchett is the living actress I’m most blown away by performance-after-performance.

And the whole thing interspersed with a Spinal Tap mockumentary vibe  🙂  woven into Don’t Look Back and a nature documentary about a grizzled Grizzly Adams Gere living in the woods!  Great poetic storytelling.

I loved every one of the Dylan actors’ performances — Cate Blanchett (of course), the black kid (Marcus Carl Franklin), Heath Ledger, Bale, Gere, and even the 19 yr old in B&W at the table, Ben Winshaw.  And how cool about Richie Havens playing the soulful father figure?!  Or David Cross as Allen Ginsberg!  And his partner mother-figure telling the young boy, “Write about your own time.”

It was realistically surreal — like Terry Gilliam might capture it, or van Gogh, or Lewis Carroll, or Alvin Ailey.  It’s crazy, it’s distorted, but it’s real.

All around, a playful joyous complex poetic work of art befitting its subject.

*  *  *

oh, and I noticed in the Special Thanks at the end:  Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, David Mansfield, Roger McGuinn, Ellliott Roberts, Jeff Tweedy (Wilco), Gus Van Sant, Wolfgang’s Vault, Neil Young! 🙂

And that it was mostly shot in Montreal!  Beauty, eh!

and — A Grate Family Friendly Film Tip — watch Masked & Anonymous RIGHT after this —
the greatest One-Two, Blow-Off-My-Shoe
Bob Brain-blast Double-Feature Ever!
Bake the brownies in advance.

 

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Jan. 2025 — Update:

Movie revisited upon release of A Complete Unknown. Here’s my plot breakdown with DVD chapter breaks and times. When I did this for The Beatles: Get Back it’s been read online by people every day since I posted it, so maybe some will find this helpful.

I’m Not There — Kris Kristofferson narrator –

Cate Blanchett nominated for Oscar, BAFTA & SAG for Best Supporting Actress, won Golden Globe & at Venice * others for it

Opening title card:  “Inspired by the music and many lives of Bob Dylan”

numbered chapter breaks:

1. 0:00 – Poet, Prophet, Outlaw, Fake – POV walking on stage – intro to all the characters – Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again – opening credits

2. 5:00 – Busy Being Born – black kid “Woody” hops on hobo boxcar 1959 – investigation/

interrogation (B&W) Ben Whishaw – Lead Belly album cover – carnival, Gorgeous George

3. 9:45 – Fatalistic Farmer? – interrogation – Richie Havens & young Marcus Tombstone Blues on porch – in Richie’s kitchen

4. 12:45 – Troubadour of Conscience – Greenwich Village faux documentary (historic footage) – Christian Bale singer-songwriter (B&W) – Julianne Moore as the Joan Baez character – Heath Ledger (B&W) – Bale (really Mason Jennings) singing Hattie Carroll at Black truck in Mississippi – Bernstein promoter

5. 19:35 – Series of Dreams – Black Woody runs away from black family – Winslow in interrogation – Woody gets robbed on train, falls out of train into river

6. 22:25 – Visions of Robbie & Claire – Charlotte Gainsbourg as Heath Ledger’s girlfriend Claire (sort of Dylan’s wife Sara’s character) – Heath Ledger in Paris hotel room – Nixon on news ending Vietnam war – Visions of Johanna by Bob

7. 27:50 – Love Was In The Air – Heath Ledger on a movie set – then a cafe flashback meeting – flashback of ’64 Village – I Want You by Bob – Heath & Claire falling in love – go to Woodstock – Heath on motorcycle – beatnik Gaslight-like Village cafe – Claire influencing Bob with French writings

34:50 Kerouac mentioned

8. 35:05 – Famed Folk Stylist – black Woody in hospital – white woman saved Woody from river – When The Ship Comes In by Marcus/Woody in living room; talks about writing songs “about what’s goin on” – phone call looking for juvenile center looking for Woody – Woody on train – Blind Willie McTell by Bob – “Woody” goes to see Woody in hospital

9. 41:15 – Fingerpointin’ Songs – civil right footage – Julianna Moore about her & Bob splitting apart – Christian Bale – Civil Liberties Union dinner with James Baldwin where Bob gets drunk –

* 10. 44:00 – Jude Blasts The Disciples – Pete Seeger, Newport, Bob going electric – Cate Blanchett Jude/Bob – (B&W) 45:45 machine guns from stage – Newport audience booing Cate – Pete Seeger and the axe – the Grossman fight – disillusioned / disgruntled fans

* 11. 48:05 – No Faith To Lose – Positively 4th Street by Bob – Cate/Bob arrives in London – Cate at press conference in London – Bruce Greenwood reporter

* 12. 51:55 – A Strange Thing Happens Every Day – Cate in hotel room in London – Don’t Look Back revisited – Albert Grossman – Neuwirth in room (playing banjo?!) – talking about Warhol’s girl Edie Sedgwick – Cold Irons Bound by Tom Verlaine – fight in hotel room

13. 55:25 – Million Dollar Bash – Heath Ledger on plane – Simple Twist of Fate by Bob – house party – Clair as a painter (like Suze) –

* 14. 58:00 – Medicine Sunday – Cate – (B&W) press gathering at fancy garden on British estate – Grossman & Neuwirth – Beatles running around with Dylan scene – comical patrons like the First Lady in Don’t Look Back – comical fan asking about lyrics POV – Bruce Greenwood reporter confronts Bob/Cate –

* 15. 1:01:15 – In The Garden with Coco – Cate (B&W) with Edie Sedgwick/Coco (Michelle Williams) dream-like confrontation sequence – 1:03:12 – car scene with Lennon-like guy “Do you suffer from sore eyes and groovy foreheads?” – reporter in car – * 1:03:30 Allen Ginsberg (David Cross) in golf cart –

* 16. 1:05:00 – Trying My Best to be Just Like I Am – Cate (B&W) in car with reporter – Cate quotes Bob’s answers to Time reporter in Don’t Look Back

* 17. 1:08:10 – Mister Jones – Cate (B&W) – Ballad of a Thin Man (Stephen Malkmus from Pavement) – Bob in concert ’66 with The Band / carnival show – surreal – reporter not getting it – Black Panthers – Bob addressing the audience who doesn’t get it – “Judas” “I don’t believe you.” – fans storm the stage – Ben Whishaw

18. 1:14:15 – Billy The Kid Revisited – Julianne Moore – Richard Gere section starts – cowboy country guy living in the woods

19. 1:16:53 – Lo and Behold – Richard Gere – surreal flashback to war scenes – All Along The Watchtower (Eddie Vedder) – Heath Ledger comes home to girlfriend – Gere’s dog Henry runs away – the highway’s coming thru and the valley is going to be destroyed

20. 1:21:50 – Sign Language – Heath Ledger – One More Cup of Coffee (by Bob) – Heath at table in Woodstock being cynical & sexist – photographer shooting him from a distance

21. 1:25: 40 – The Valley Below – Richard Gere – One More Cup of Coffee (by Bob) – in surreal old Western town – very Masked & Anonymous – people evacuating – great costumes & production design

22. 1:27:30 – “Seven Simple Rules” – Whishaw (B&W) – Richard Gere meets young Black ‘Woody’ – more surreal Masked & Anonymous in old West – 1:28:45: Cate Blanchett (B&W) watching reporter talk about him on his Culture Beat TV show –

23. 1:30:25 – Tarantula – Cate writing on typewriter – B&W Don’t Look Back – David Cross/Allen Ginsberg voiceover – Dylan writing with picture collaged around him – Ginsberg reading (from Tarantula?) by a cross on a hill

24. 1:31:35 – Long Distance Operator – Heath & Claire – she asks for a box of her photos

25. 1:33:25 – Waiting For The End of The World – Richard Gere’s surreal Western town – 1:34:25 – Bob’s “Goin’ To Acapulco” (from The Basement Tapes) – hauntingly sung by Jim James (from My Morning Jacket, but here backed by the Arizona indie band Calexico) with a wicked horn arrangement – the musical highlight of the movie –

26. 1:37:05 – Charles Atlas & The Bomb – (I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone – Cate at Warhol party in white loft art gallery – manager Grossman’s booked Bob for 83 show tour! – Brian Jones exchange – Coco/Edie Sedgwick reappears – Lyndon Johnson speaking Dylan lines in faux newscast – Dylan vomits on guest’s lap

27. 1:42:25 – Trouble In Mind – Cold Irons Bound (Bob’s version) – Dylan & Ginsberg at cross like they were in Kerouac’s Lowell – Trouble In Mind (by Bob) –

28. 1:44:20 – Finding A Home In Jesus – religious conversion – Christian Bale preaching – Pressing On –

29. 1:49:15 – Family Photos – Heath Ledger finds/spills box of Claire’s family photos – Claire leaves Bob – Idiot Wind (Bob acoustic) –

30. 1:52:20 – The End of Betrayal – Richard Gere in old West – “Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid” newspaper blows to his feet – Heath & Claire courtroom divorce – Heath on TV as an actor

31. 1:55:20 – Every Man’s Conscience – Gere puts on plastic mask at political rally, confronts long-haired old man on stage, Garrett to Bob/Gere’s Billy the Kid (played by an unrecognizable Bruce Greenwood, the Mr. Jones reporter from earlier) – Gere/Bob gets arrested

32. 1:58:05 – Restless Farewell – I’m Not There (Bob’s unreleased version from The Basement Tapes sessions, 1967) – Whishaw monologue – Cate unconscious on floor – POV of Cate looking up at Don’t Look Back crowd: Ginsberg, Grossman, Neuwirth – Heath / Claire Christmas visit with kids – Gere breaks out of jail and hops a train – his lost dog from earlier shows up running alongside the train but doesn’t get on and Gere says goodbye to his dog and his western town life

33. 2:02:10 – Mona Lisa’s Highway Blues – motorcycle crash – Cate in car a la Don’t Look Back talking about songs & songwriting – Gere wakes up in boxcar, takes out dusty guitar from a “This machine kills fascists” case – speaks in voiceover including Dylan quote from 1997 Newsweek interview about waking up as one person and going to sleep as another – ends with clip of the real Dylan doing a sweet harmonica solo from Mr. Tambourine Man

34. 2:08:30 – credits roll to Like A Rolling Stone (Highway 61 version) and Sonic Youth doing I’m Not There – Special Thanks at the end: Neil Young! Jeff Tweedy (Wilco), Ramblin’ Jack and Gus Van Sant

 

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Here’s background on how they made to 2024 masterpiece A Complete Unknown and how it turned out.

Or here’s a riff on The Benefits of Biopics.

Or here’s more Bob — when he played the Kool small venue show in Toronto.

Or here’s where he came out and joined Bruce at Shea Stadium.

Or here’s a review of another funny-cool twisted movie — My Dinner With Jimi.

Or here’s from the London premiere of On The Road in the courtyard of Somerset House.

And here was the world premiere of the new shorter version of On The Road at the Toronto Film Festival.

Or here’s some other funny off-Beat movies about the Merry Pranksters and The Beats.

Or here’s an overview of all the Beat movie dramatizations ever filmed.

Or here’s a review of the lost footage of the historic roc n roll train trip that was finally released as Festival Express, starring the Grateful Dead, The Band and Janis Joplin.

Or here’s the Scorsese’s Rolling Stones concert film — Shine A Light.

Or here’s a fairly unknown but perfectly offbeat comedy — Lucky Numbers — with a comedic Travolta, Lisa Kudrow, Tim Roth, Michael Rapaport, Richard Schiff, Michael Moore and many others.

Or here’s a bunch of films I reviewed on IMDB.

Or here’s a master list of Brian’s Hot 200 movies including all sorts of cinematic riffs and tips. 

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by Brian Hassett            karmacoupon@gmail.com                    brianhassett.com