I'm Not There

Reviewed by:
Gene Newman

The Skinny: This is an incredibly specific movie aimed at die-hard Bob Dylan fans. If you're not one of 'em, best leave now because director Todd Haynes skips a traditional biopic and goes for the stream-of-consciousness and bizarre. For those of you still sticking around, this outlines singer/songwriter/prophet Dylan's different phases by using six different actors to portray him (Christian Bale, Ben Whishaw, Richard Gere, Heath Ledger, Cate Blanchett, and Marcus Carl Franklin [an 11-year-old black kid]). This skips all over the place, and is impossible to follow if you don't know Dylan history.

Full Disclosure: As a Dylan fanatic, I dug it. But take heed: If I didn't know so much about Dyan, I would have given up 10 minutes in.

The Good: Again, if you like Dylan, the music is incredible, mixing original recordings and new versions of songs. Also, the performances from most of the actors, especially David Cross as poet Allen Ginsberg, are dead-on.

The Bad: It's too damn specific for the mainstream. If you want to see something great rent Don't Look Back, which chronicles the Blanchett phase. (No, he wasn't a woman at the time, he was just a prick.)

Best Extra: There's a second disc loaded with extras, but the most useful is "An Introduction to the Film" on the first disc. It's clear the studio knew this movie would confuse the crap out of the average viewer, so they smartly added these text-based features to give you some perspective. Granted, it contains major spoilers, but at least you'll know what the hell you're about to watch.