★★★½ I`m Not There

[Gino: 3.5, Twoshoes: 3.0]

Gino says: 'This is one of the hardest films I have ever had to review and explain. I am mostly giving it a recommendation for four things (1) good acting from several of the stars, almost frighteningly good from Cate Blanchett, but you also have Christian Bale there, and Heath Ledger, etc. (2) some really great (and subtle) cinematography, (3) great use of the music and (4) loads of ambition.

As you probably know, I am a fan of Bob Dylan's music, but don't really care much about knowing the man behind it. Which is lucky for me, since firstly, he comes across largely as a jerk in the great Pennebaker documentary from 1967. But more to the point the man seems unknowable. His true persona impossible to pin down either because he is not comfortable with having a "self" or certainly doesn't want to share it with the likes of you.

So how do you make a biopic of a person like that? It can't be like "Ray" or "Walk the Line." Here, the filmmakers get it just right: they craft an appropriately elusive film, going as far as to give the subject various names, none of them Bob Dylan. So some how this captures him better than anything else I have seen. It's a very ambitious and tricky piece of work, pulled off well.

The problem is, though, even if done well, do you really want to know Bob Dylan any better? If the answer is no, you will likely be infuriated by the thing. To sum up my feelings about it: You know how 3/4 of the way through a Terrance Malick film you wish that the main character's voiceover would just SHUT UP? And yet you like the film when it has passed you by? This is kinda like that. '