Reviewed by maroon5gurl88 on Mon May 12, 2008

As with most of my reviews of late let me start with a preface. I’m not a Bob Dylan fan at all. Not only was I not around during his heyday but in discovering older music in my life he just never appealed to me. With that out of the way in watching “I’m Not There” I definitely wanted to buy a book on the man and find out more about him as a person, only because the movie was a bit too confusing for a novice.

“I’m Not There” details the life of Bob Dylan, without saying it’s about Bob Dylan. Six actors play the titular character throughout his life and career. There’s his early African American roots (Marcus Carl Franklin), his early folk singing days (Christian Bale), his personal side (Heath Ledger), his 60’s Factory days (Cate Blanchett), his poetic side (Ben Whishaw) and him in his older age (Richard Gere). Each brings a taste of the man who was Dylan into the picture and attempts to show the man and the myth.

I do enjoy director Todd Haynes work, especially “Velvet Goldmine” which showed the ‘Glam Rock’ era of the 60s in Britain. That detailed the lives of Iggy Pop and David Bowie without ever mentioning their names and “I’m Not There” is pretty much the same premise. Haynes even borrows the documentary style he did in “Velvet Goldmine,” interviewing characters played by Julianne Moore and others. Most of the Dylans are amazing for the most part. I truly thought the late Heath Ledger gave a performance worthy of an Oscar nomination as the personal side of Dylan detailing his failed marriage and his relationship with his children. Watching Ledger struggle with being a huge celebrity and losing touch with his wife and kids seemed to have a more personal connection after finding out about Ledger’s own demons. Cate Blanchett does a great job as the Andy Warhol era Dylan. Her performance is where a lot of the humor in the movie comes from. Her interactions with Michelle Williams, a caricature of Edie Sedgewick contains some of the more comedic scenes. Christian Bale also turns in a great performance as the folksy Bob Dylan and then as the converted Christian version.

The movie does run a bit long at over two hours. A lot of this comes from the more quirky moments that just pulled me out of the story. The entire plot with Richard Gere’s character just seemed weird and out of place. I think if I knew a bit more about Dylan in this time I might have understood it better but I just found it boring. Ben Whishaw is another side of Dylan I didn’t get with his philosophical talks. While young Marcus Carl Franklin has a great voice I just didn’t connect with him for some reason. The transitions were also jarring as it starts in a chronological order then starts jumping from era to era.

I did rent this at Blockbuster so I only had certain special features. The commentary with director Todd Haynes was interesting as he went over casting and forming all the different Dylan approaches. It seemed pretty standard for the most part but it was interesting to hear Haynes go over confusing points. There is an on-screen lyric guide if you enjoy the songs and want to sing along, since I didn’t know the music this got a bit boring, same with the ability to see certain songs performed individually. Hard-core Dylan fans might like these features. There are also essays and interviews that discuss Haynes and his approach to the film if you want something beyond the commentary. Since I did not get Disc 2 I cannot comment on the extended/deleted scenes, outtakes, cast auditions and the Haynes Q&A.

Overall “I’m Not There” made me want to learn more about certain aspects of Dylan’s life. If you’re not a fan you might need some background so definitely listen to the commentary with director Todd Haynes. I give this a 3/5.