Review of Masked and Anonymous (2003) by Harry E — 13 Jan 2010

This is a strange project, and I suspect that most people who watch it do so mainly because it's such a novelty. It's centered around Bob Dylan, playing basically a version of a concept of himself, Jack Fate, a once-famous musician hired by corrupt promoters to perform at a benefit concert in some country where there's a revolution going on.

Dylan is in his aimless rambler mode, and since he co-wrote the film as well in that same mode, the movie itself is kind of just aimless rambling, as Dylan interacts with an awesome supporting cast, though all their characters are pretty one-dimensional.

It's nice to watch and listen to Dylan here as well as the rest of the cast; they all speak in comfortably worn and vague metaphors. You get the feeling that it's all meant to represent something, but you're never really able to figure out what the point is.

Maybe the filmmakers didn't either, and were content to just build a film that meanders about an enigma at its core. Still interesting, though.