Portraying the life and music of Bob Dylan, one of music history's most famed and enigmatic figures, "I'm Not There" (2007) screened at the Telluride at Dartmouth Film Festival last Sunday. The film, directed by Todd Haynes ("Far from Heaven"), captures the essence of Dylan's many transformations during his career through performances by six different actors.
While "I'm Not There" will be released widely to U.S. audiences in November, the festival offered a special opportunity to the Dartmouth community to see an early screening of the much-anticipated film -- and all three shows were sold out.
Addressing Dylan's musical and life influences, the film jumps between a rambling, train-hopping 11-year-old who calls himself Woodie Guthrie (Marcus Carl Franklin) to a moth-eaten and rusty old Billy the Kid (Richard Gere). In these scenes, we meet figures that influenced Dylan and learn what they taught the future icon.
When an unnamed woman tells the 11-year-old boy, who represents the young Dylan but suggests a theme of false identity, to "live your own time, child -- sing about your own time," viewers are reminded that Dylan did exactly that -- sang about his era. Viewers learn Dylan's lesson not to place too much faith in a hero when the same 11-year-old child visits his idol Woodie Guthrie in a hospital only to find a sick and burnt out old man.
In addition to these lessons, the film portrays the turmoil of fame and the politics of rock music.
Jack Rollins (Christian Bale), an early folk hero who is famous for ditties like "Frosty the Snowman," rolls through the folk scene and is later portrayed as a preacher.
Rollins appears again in the film when actor Robbie Clark (Heath Ledger) plays him as a character in a movie. Clark's persona enters Dylan's personal life as his family is torn by the trials of fame and when a burst of chauvinism alludes to Dylan's supposed attitude towards women.
Despite the fact that the character is played by a female, Judd Quinn (Cate Blanchett) is the persona most closely modeled after the real Dylan. Much of Quinn's life is biographically the same as Dylan's, and Blanchett's performance is astonishingly accurate to Dylan's appearance and mannerisms during the late '60s. She portrays Dylan during particularly momentous events in his history. In one scene, Quinn electrifies a New England music festival, much like Dylan did in Newport when he made his transformation from old-time folk music to a modern sound.
Filtered between these characters are the sagacious riddles and words of Arthur (Ben Whishaw), who represents the French poet and hedonist Arthur Rimbaud. Arthur, the cynical voice of truth, questions the power of folk music and addresses the struggles of politically and socially motivated music in general. Arthur doesn't "dig nature" and expresses that "the only truly natural things are dreams, which nature can't touch or decay."
In these words, we find Dylan's fear of nature, age and the roots of his serial change. We understand his interest in transforming characters like Billy the Kid. The lyrics to Dylan's "I'm Not There," the film's namesake, read "And I'm also hesitating by temptation lest it runs/Which it don't follow me/But I'm not there, I'm gone."
Following the movie's underlying theme of transformation, these lyrics suggest Dylan's true identity -- a poetic journeyman on the run. This allusive style makes the film an unconventional biography, which provides a view inside the real Dylan, unlike other documentaries such as 2005's "No Directions Home."
Viewers should not expect a conclusive biography of Dylan's life. Obscure references to his life are further complicated by the film's dreamlike nature and fast-paced speed. Though only a Dylan buff would leave the theater with a fairly complete understanding of the film, even a novice folk music fan would not be disappointed by it. The film, a patchwork of influences, true stories and fantasy, is as diverse as Dylan's musical progression.
Addressing Dylan's transformations, which serve as the underlying theme, Haynes said in a recent Associated Press article, "[Dylan] undermines the things you count on, your touchstones. He shakes up the things that people used to build their own selves on. Every time you grab on to him, he's somewhere else. I thought the only way to do anything in a film about him would be to dramatize that fact, to use that as the sort of principle to organize the narrative, or many narratives."
The soundtrack, which will be released in late October, follows this narrative and incorporates both Dylan originals and covers, like "All Along the Watchtower" by Eddie Vedder or "Simple Twist of Fate" by Jeff Tweedy. Performance reproductions in surreal dreamy scenes -- such as one containing a harrowing cover of "Goin' to Acapulco" by My Morning Jacket's Jim James -- bring another layer of perspective to some of Dylan's most beloved tunes.
On one level, "I'm Not There" provides viewers with a keyhole into the diverse and complex life of a man who intellectually, culturally and spiritually influenced so many people. However, this film extends the limitations of a documentary and becomes an authentic and exaggerated story about truth, change and life.
