Inspection of Dylan's life disjointed, uninspiring
No one knows Bob Dylan, not even his biographers, a point well made in "I'm Not There," a film inspired by Dylan's life that's noble enough not to be a strict biography.
Starting when he stumbled into Greenwich Village as a folk savant, Dylan consistently managed to introduce himself as a frustrating enigma and restless shape-shifter who adopts and then drops cultural baggage as soon as the tide turns. It's no secret -- for years he's instructed an announcer to introduce his show by rattling off the litany of roles he's assumed over 40-plus years (rebel, Christian, has-been), the scope of which turns out to be inspiration for director and writer Todd Haynes.
Haynes takes a literal approach to Dylan's role rotations by casting a motley cast -- including Christian Bale (adult male), Marcus Carl Franklin (young boy) and Cate Blanchett (British woman) -- to represent different phases in Dylan's early career (apparently Haynes only found Dylan interesting up until the mid-1970s). The film is purposely impressionistic with little narrative. Instead, Haynes interweaves his various Dylans with one another, but the connections feel forced, if not particularly precious. This movie is stocked with peripheral characters arguing with the Dylans, trying to figure out the Dylans, divorcing the Dylans, worshipping the Dylans, playing stooge to the Dylans, scratching their respective heads about the Dylans. The real life Dylan has his unpleasant side, but this crew is pretty insufferable.
Haynes reportedly got the green light from Bob himself after assuring him he would not make a conventional biopic, the kind that recently boosted the estates of Ray Charles and Johnny Cash -- a noble goal this film ends up proving is pointless. Anyone familiar with Dylan's trajectory (or anyone who watched Martin Scorcese's PBS two-parter) will be bored with Haynes' pseudo-documentary on the early folk years, amused at Cate Blanchett's trick bag of nervous tics during the electric years, irritated at Haynes' Fellini references and befuddled by Richard Gere's hobo Dylan who gets cast out from a circus town named (get it?) Riddle.
Yes, Dylan is certainly that, a choice that always kept the music from being boring. "I'm Not There," especially at an exhaustive 135 minutes, doesn't have that luxury. It is telling that the only genuine moment of the film does not come from Haynes' hallucinatory camera angles or cute juxtapositions, but from a single performance of a single Dylan song from a single musician -- Jim James of the band My Morning Jacket who makes "Going to Acapulco" soar with a voice that is heartbreaking.
The moment briefly removes the viewer from what is, at the end of the day, a homage that feels private to just the director. Blanchett mimicking Dylan's stoned malaise quickly leads to ham-fisted parody, which feeds this film its only sense of fun. What Haynes forgets is Dylan was, at the end of the era, less a hipster and more a trickster. No matter how many aesthetic details are nailed down here, they ultimately feel like a deluded duty to style, leaving the heart of the music and the soul of the man blowin' you know where.
"I'm Not There"
Two stars out of four
Opens today
Starring As
Christian Bale Bob Dylan/John
Cate Blanchett Bob Dylan/Jude
Marcus Carl Franklin Bob Dylan/ Woody
Richard Gere Bob Dylan/Billy
Heath Ledger Bob Dylan
Written by Todd Haynes and Oren Moverman. Directed by Todd Haynes. A Weinstein Company release. Rated R (language, some sexuality and nudity). Running time: 135 minutes.