Review of I'm Not There (2007) by Jake G — 04 Apr 2009

This will be one of the rare occasions where I can't fault someone for not liking a movie I thoroughly enjoyed, but being an enormous Bob Dylan fan I felt that this fell right into my demographic. Even more so, This is one of the best biopics in recent history, easily outdoing Walk the Line and rivaling Ray.

Here, we have six (or seven depending on how you count) characters all representing different persons of Bob Dylan, a man who remains a mystery to this day with his ability to respond to the media without ever answering a question. Each character lives in their specific world and yet are all, in some strange way connected to each other through this strange familiarity we have with them. Cate Blanchet blew me away above and beyond the other actors, playing a Bob Dylan persona that is most familiar to us. The one storyline I didn't much care for was Richard Gere's Billy the Kid. Yes I understand that Bob Dylan wished he could have freed himself from the media and the fame the way Billy the Kid dodged the bullet and went into hiding but the character's story was unappealing for me and seemed the most distant from what we do know of Dylan.

I strongly recommend this movie to any fans of Dylan or even fans of creative, original films. You will experience confusion about some of the plot points but ignore the confusion and enjoy the film for the excellent work that it is.