I’m Not There (2007) Movie Review, Oscar Winners Among Us

I wasn’t a Bob Dylan fan, but I am now. You will probably hear that sentence uttered many more times as the positive reviews come flooding in.

I will try to explain the film as best I can although there really isn’t a solid plotline and there is no set protagonist or antagonist or even main character. On the simplest level, the film will appeal to Dylan fans that want to know about his journeys through life. But on a greater, more complicated level, I would say that this film appeals to everyone no matter what his or her journey is life is. The film is played as a comedy at one point, then drama the next; as a documentary and then as an abstract experimental cinematic experience.

You hear a narrator describing key points in Dylan’s life while different actors representing his varying current states of mind play Dylan himself. Songs playing during each phase show how the war, civil rights, JFK’s assassination, etc. affected him. Sometimes the flashbacks are populated with dreamy Lynchian-like qualities that hypnotize you. Sometimes the dramatics are played very straight forward, especially with the marriage and child rearing period. Sometimes the show is portrayed with grand histrionics like when Dylan’s anti-folk music is symbolized by him unleashing machine gun fire onto a crowd. As heavy as all this may sound, the film comes off rather light, effervescent even.

“They wanted a finger pointer and I only got 10 fingers.”

Christian Bale as Jack Rollins and a born again preacher.

“I wanted to change the world and he knew we couldn’t.”

Julianne Moore is folk singer Alice Fabin. This part of the film reminds me of comedic mockumentaries like “Best in Show” and “Waiting for Guffman.” Julianne gives a very humorous, fully aware performance that she throws in the face of critics that decry her dramatic roles. It was almost as though she chose this role as payback. She succeeded.

“No, not my Woody.”

Marcus Carl Franklin as (the fake) Woody Guthrie.

“They first met in 1963. They just buried their President. Love was in the air.”

Heath Ledger as Robbie Clark represented the ladies man in Dylan, but also showed his softer side. I should note the irony in Ledger playing a man going through a divorce and fighting over the custody of his children in a film that stars his soon-to-be ex-wife with whom he is sharing custody of his child.

“Silence is what terrifies people the most.”

Ben Whishaw as Arthur being interrogated by an unseen man.

“Two words on William Shakespeare: Raging Queen, Dick Chick.”

Cate Blanchett as Jude definitely steals the show, but not in the way you would think. I have to admit that even I underestimated her by thinking her playing a man was some kind of publicity stunt (reference Charlize Theron in “Monster” and Hilary Swank in “Boys Don’t Cry”). But she truly deserves the attention. She has the best lines of the bunch and knows how to use them.

Cate represents the sexually ambiguous and morally reprehensible part of Dylan, which makes sense at least with the ambiguity part. Cate plays the role seamlessly and you almost forget who she really is. But I did snap out of her spell when she uttered the line “Ain’t it just like a woman…” and I giggled.

“Here by the road where the show doesn’t go is where I’ll die.”

Richard Gere as Billy the Kid.

There is no three-act structure. You are transported from person to person, from time to time. It is not like “Titantic” where the film hits the beats (couple falls in love, couple dies, you cry). It’s moving, but not in a way I can describe. You fall in love with all the characters, but they don’t really come and go to cue the audience and yet…all they did was come and go. And that is why I liked it. Even though that doesn’t make any sense.

I guess the basic premise of the film is that ultimately, you cannot escape the past. One of the last lines is that you are currently living the past, present and future. That everything you do affects the future and that we are all connected. The film really appeals to all people for many different reasons. Someone will find something to love about it. You may be tricked into believing that this is a Dylan biopic, but we ARE Dylan.

Now I will make a bet (and I happen to be a betting woman). I join an Oscar pool every year and this film is high on my list of films to watch this holiday season. I will put money on that no less than 2 Oscars will be nominated in the 2008 Academy Awards and probably no less than 2 will be won. And in the wake of “Crash” Oscar controversy, I will add that no less than 2 of the awards will actually be deserved.