Review of I'm Not There (2007) by Tomb. — 19 Jan 2008

A good friend said it best as we were preparing to leave the theatre after watching I'm Not There, "That is two hours I will never get back." He of course was talking about the non-sequitor path in the life of Bob Dylan, incredulously put to celluloid.

The vignettes in the different personae of lives couldn't save the film built around metaphors of civil unrest and struggle, hence the references to the life of Dylan. The resounding theme centered around the tobacco industry, showing that it could still spend advertising dollars in one of the last mediums available to it.

Anyone who could breath in the movie was puffing on a cigarette. In one of the vignettes I was somewhat surprised they didn't find a way to put a cancer stick in the mouth of the woman on a Halloween stage play, portrayed as dead in a prop casket.

Even that scene fell from all senses. In it, the character of Richard Gere donned a mask to protect his identity and protest a government exercise of eminent domain. With his arrest, someone in the crowd said, "Once a thief, always a thief.

" I dug deep for that one to pare civil unrest to the crime of robbery by Pat Garrett, and thought about its deeper meaning. Forgive me, I can't consciously go through any mental exercise with this film.

There was a couple minutes of entertainment as a young Marcus Carl Franklin, named Woody Guthrie, plucked a round of skittles in a trio of guitar virtuoso. Even Cate Blanchett couldn't save this film.

Her portrayal of Dylan was almost believable. In one scene she was in a playful mood with the Beatles in the park. The Beatles were playful, and the frolicking was sped up to represent the fast motion of the Fab Four.

I left wishing they had sped up the entire movie, fast forwarding to the end. In that way my friend and I would not have wasted two hours of our lives. If I were to like this movie, maybe I would need psychedelic drugs, strapped down with my eyes taped open like Malcolm McDowell in Clockwork Orange.