Im Not There

Film Details

Cast

Christian Bale, Richard Gere, Cate Blanchett, Heath Ledger, Ben Whishaw

Technical Details

Star Review

This is a thoroughly enagaging tribute to the many and various lives of the one and only ... Jack Rollins, Arthur Rimbaud, Woody Guthrie, Jude Quinn, Robbie Clark and Billy the Kid, aliases all of Bob Dylan, here brought to life by six very different actors. You’ve heard of Cate Blanchett’s amazing turn as the twitchy, sneering amphetamine-loaded ‘Judas’, but there’s also Heath Ledger the philandering actor, Ben Whishaw the gnomic poet, Christian Bale the hallelujah man, Marcus Carl Franklin the young black boy, old before his years, and Richard Gere the backwoods man. Uncanny recreations of seminal moments – plugging in at Newport in 1965, the Greenwich Village Freewheelin’ cover – mix with fictionalised biography. Haynes also had full access to Dylan’s archives, hence the title song, a previously unreleased Basement Tapes outtake. I’m Not There leaves you energised and immediately reaching for his music. By the time it ends, you are convinced that the subject couldn’t have been tackled any other way.

Graeme Hobbs on 6th May 2008

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Film Description

Todd Hayne's unconventional biopic of the legendary Bob Dylan sees no fewer than six actors portray the icon in a series of vignettes reflecting his life and work. Unexpectedly (or not) Cate Blanchett is the best of the bunch, capturing Dylan's physicality as well as his spirit.

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