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I'm Not There [2007]

Actors: Cate Blanchett, Ben Whishaw, Christian Bale, Richard Gere, Marcus Carl Franklin
Studio: Paramount Home Entertainment
Category: DVD

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New (11) from Ł12.98

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

11 reviews
Sales Rank: 85

Format: Pal
Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 130
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6

EAN: 5014437953339
ASIN: B00147AJ8G

Theatrical Release Date: 2007
Release Date: July 14, 2008 (New: This Week)
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours

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Editorial Reviews:

Amazon.co.uk Review
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 cinema verite black-and-white and saturated colour, 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

Customer Reviews: Read 6 more reviews...

2 out of 5 stars

Very challenging !! July 16, 2008
This film has been described as challenging and sprawling, although, interminable, disjointed and pretentious could also be applied. It's the first movie I've ever walked out of after what seemed like several gruelling hours. Cate Blanchett's acting is brilliant and is the only 'accessable' thing in the whole film. You'll watch it if you're a Dylan fan, but probably only once.

5 out of 5 stars

Extraordinary and Unique June 3, 2008
Saw this last night and I was spellbound. It won't be everyone's cup of tea but I adored it. Cate Blanchet, Ben Whishaw, Christian Bale, and the very young Marcus Carl Franklin (superb) were all outstanding. The impressionistic film portrayed the times and Dylan's world beautifully. What can I say - keep an open mind and try to see this on a large screen with good sound. Otherwise you may not "be there".

4 out of 5 stars

the old, weird america May 26, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

I'd really just like to say a word or two to those who persist in describing the Richard Gere segment of this film as its weakest point: please go back and listen to The Basement Tapes, pay attention to the sleevenotes, and if you've got the time and intellectual energy, read Greil Marcus's Invisible Republic. You will recognise all the strange characters who populate that eerie place that seems to hover between this world and some other (Marcus's Invisible Republic, or The Old, Weird America), and you will see why Gere's character is so crucial to this kaleidoscopic view of Dylan's art. I found this part of Haynes's admirably ambitious movie to be the most thrilling, and Jim James's otherworldly rendition of Goin' To Acapulco the most stunning piece of music (outside Dylan's own, naturally). Much of Dylan's best work seems always to be just beyond our grasp, which is partly why it is so compelling, but there are gateways to a deeper understanding available to us if we can be bothered to look for them. Like all gateways they can let us in or they can keep us out. Our choice.

3 out of 5 stars

Good movie, but not a Dylan movie May 12, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

If you are expecting a "Dylan movie", be aware, this is not one.
This is a very good movie, which takes (somewhat free) inspiration from Bob Dylan's life.
To try to find connections, or 1-to-1 relationship, between the movie and Dylan's known biography is a mistake that I make, and leads to nowhere but disappointment.
If one seeks for a "Dylan movie", may I suggest "No direction home" by Martin Scorsese, which is absolutely excellent.
"I am not there" is very well-played by all actors, with some dots of genius, such as having Cate Blanchett playing the role of Jude Quinn, our "Dylan- esque" character.
The soundtrack is excellent, a mixture of well-known songs played (very well) by a number of bands, as well as less-known ones that are a nice discovery.
Therefore I recommend it, but I think too much emphasis has been placed by the media on Bob Dylan. If no reference at all had been made to him, perhaps one would enjoy more the movie itself.

4 out of 5 stars

the six degrees of Dylan March 19, 2008
13 out of 14 found this review helpful

Todd Haynes showcases the music, myth and legend of Bob Dylan for all to see. In I'm Not There, Dylan is portrayed in stages (mirroring his rise to fame)by a bevy of talented actors. Playing the skinny, androgynous Dylan in his early years, Cate Blanchett shines. She has every twitch, every disdainful look, every sarcastic comment down pat.

There's also Marcus Carl Franklin as a young, black Dylan struggling to emulate his idol, Woody Guthrie. Then there's British actor Ben Whishaw, paying tribute to Dylan's admiration of Arthur Rimbaud. Christian Bale shines as a prophetic version of Dylan, and Heath Ledger delivers an amazing performance as an actor playing Dylan on screen as his marriage falls apart. Finally there's Richard Gere (in perhaps the weakest segment of all) as an aging gun slinger who goes into exile a la Dylan after his 1966 motorcycle crash.

This is high, high art. You'll hear much about Cate Blanchett's portrayal, and rightfully so as she nailed it. But pay close attention to Ben Whishaw as well. For me he was the one to shine.