Director: Todd Haynes
UK Release Date: 21st December 2007
Running Time: 135 minutes
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Richard Gere, Ben Whishaw, Marcus Carl Franklin
"I'm Not There" is a biographical drama based on the life of musician Bob Dylan. However it is not your usual film of this sort. Director Todd Haynes, portrays different aspects of Dylan's life by using 6 different characters. This is where the film became very confusing as it is not really clear who is who and what throughout, with each story cutting just as it gets going for the next. This is not just a view of ours - it is a view from Dylan himself when he was asked whether he liked the film in an interview with Rolling Stone. This does not take away from how good the film was though and it did seem to all come together by the end leaving us feeling satisfied from what we have just seen. The film is accompanied by an incredible soundtrack with songs of Dylan's performed by him and others.
Characters/Cast
Cate Blanchett - Jude Quinn
Blanchett plays Jude Quinn to portray what happened in Dylan's life between 1965-1966. This story shows Quinn playing an electric guitar while playing at a folk music festival and also touring around the United Kingdom without much success. This is a representation of Dylan's life as this is what happened to him. This character also accurately represents Dylan's personality and mannerisms and this is down to the performance of Cate Blanchett. She really shows what she can do in this film and rightfully deserved the plenty of award nominations she received for best supporting actress.
Christian Bale - Jack Rollins and Pastor John
Bale again shows his versatility by playing Jack Rollins and Pastor John (who is believed to be the older version of Rollins). Rollins character refers to Dylan's life just before the 'Jude Quinn' character portrayal period. It is a testament to his acoustic phase between 1963-1964. The Pastor John character refers to the re-incarnated Dylan in 1979. Bale's performance was good - it felt like we did not get to see much of him which was a shame but what was shown was certainly not bad.
Heath Ledger - Robbie Clark
This is where it can get slightly confusing. Ledger plays Robbie Clark who is an actor. Simple enough but... Clark plays Jack Rollins in a biopic he is making. This part depicts a film within a film. It is very clever once you get your head around it. This character is used to show the personal life on Dylan - how his marriages came to be and subsequently broke up. Ledger gives a very powerful performance which was completed only two months before his tragic passing. His performance as Clark truly shows how good he was.
Richard Gere - Billy the Kid
Richard Gere plays a character referred to as Billy the Kid. Gere's character is meant to show Dylan's life from the perspective of Dylan. It shows the side of Dylan that did not want or desire the attention of the media and press. The time period for this would be in the early 1970s. Gere's performance is also good and the story that was portrayed was one of our more favoured ones.
Ben Whishaw - Arthur Rimbaud
This is a very interesting depiction of Dylan and can be seen as the most 'true'. This is because Whishaw plays Arthur Rimbaud who throughout the film is answering questions from an interviewer. All of Rimbaud's remarks and answers are real quotes that Dylan has made in his lifetime. Again though, due to the amount of stories being told this one was
shown for a short amount of time and it would have been good to see more.
Marcus Carl Franklin - Woody Guthrieshown for a short amount of time and it would have been good to see more.
Named after the childhood hero of Dylan, Woody Guthrie was played by Marcus Carl Franklin. This character also represents Dylan growing up and trying to understand himself and find his own identity as a person and as an artist. Franklin plays the role very well and was a pleasure to watch.
The film is very good although can be hard to follow. We are Dylan fans and still struggled at times to follow what was being portrayed. For any die hard fans this film would be incredible to watch. However, that is not to say that people who are not fans should not watch it. It is a great biographical film and is filmed in a different refreshing way to others and the soundtrack makes it all the more pleasant to watch.
M+F Rating: 7/10
Reviewed by M+F Reviews.
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