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“It’s like yesterday, today and tomorrow all in one movie”.

Directed by: Todd Haynes.
Written by : Todd Haynes (story/screenplay) Oren Moverman (screenplay).
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Marcus Carl Franklin.

The title of this review is all I can understand about the story of the iconic singer, song-writer and Pulitzer prize winning Bob Dylan’s semi-autobiographical art known now as ‘I’m not there’. It depicts his life starting as a kid (Marcus Carl Franklin) running away from his folks on a train with a guitar inside a box that says ‘kills fascists’, to a young boy (Ben Whishaw), to a young man (Christian Bale, Heath Ledger), to the grown Dylan I have seen over media (Cate Blanchett) and finally the old man (Richard Gere) who runs from his hometown in Riddle, MO on a train to find a guitar with a box that says ‘kills fascists’. Well that is the exact movie chronology. Now I would let you figure out what this means.

I personally am not familiar with Bob Dylan’s work so it will be difficult to write about I’m not there as opposed to Pink Floyd’s The Wall (1982). But as a movie this one has a peculiar narration which is surrealistic as opposed to just surrealist images seen in many movies. The screenplay is well written for this narration and the director and the editor have done justice to it completely. In this sense this surrealy narrated movie is rather simpler to understand than a surreal movie. Though it drags at few occasions, the later half of the movie is utterly interesting. The story is particularly well summarised for the time spun (50’s to late 70’s). Sometimes it takes a little longer to make a point which rather suits the intensity of it. The idea of choosing different actors for different life times of the singer is not just for the looks of the character but I guess the ability of those actors to pull the behavior of the singer more easily. Because maybe it would be difficult for an actor to portray so many different phases of the singer’s complicated life as we see or maybe not. But this idea of choosing different actors fits very well in the confines of the movie. Few images seemed inspired by Fellini’s 8 1/2 (1963). Never thought those could be recreated. Congratulations to writer director Todd Haynes.

Now there are so many actors the question comes are they equally good. Well most of them have given extraordinary performances. Marcus Franklin as the young kid is quite remarkable. He is charismatic in his role. Maybe he did actually play the guitar. In the grown ups, Christian Bale gives another memorable performance. So does Heath Ledger. But the outstanding performance is by Cate Blanchett. The whole idea to carry a stoned and surreal but poetic singer is extraordinary. If she holds a cigarette, walks down the stairs, sings a song or just simply says ‘man’, she is unbelievably charming. She should have got the Academy. But I guess its the unpopularity of the movie which presumably also affected Ryan Gosling’s Lars and the real girl (2007) performance. Righard Gere and Ben Whishaw give short notable appearances.

If you like Bob Dylan then perhaps you would like this movie. If you are not aware of his work but just simply like movies then give this surrealy narrated movie a try.

My rating: 9/10.

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