josie

I'm Not There

i really appreciate what todd haynes was going for here. this is certainly different and i like the way it’s structured, i just had a hard time engaging with it. i didn’t particularly find it interesting cate blanchett is so good in this but most of this movie simply didn’t do it for me. i don’t hate it. i may even revisit it one day in the future to see if anything changes, but for now, it was okay but left a lot to be desired. i do love bob dylan though!

BelugaJames

I'm Not There

I’m not sure if Dylan is the perfect person for this type of biopic, or if this is a format that would work well for many other artists. Obviously Dylan having so many distinct and separate eras/movements makes a vignette style film work better. The performances are uniformly great, and while Blanchett rightly gets a lot of praise, I think my favorite performance is Marcus Carl Franklin, in a version of Dylan that could reallynot work. But his performance is so honest and unselfconscious that he really gets to a deeper truth. What a marvelous film. Would make a fun double feature with ELVIS, both maximalist in their own way, about legendary musicians.

nathansnook

I'm Not There

APRIL MOVIES 2025 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZqgZMSjOnI) «𝘑𝘦 𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘶𝘯 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘳𝘦. 𝘚𝘪 𝘭𝘦 𝘤𝘶𝘪𝘷𝘳𝘦 𝘴'é𝘷𝘦𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦 𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘳𝘰𝘯, 𝘪𝘭 𝘯'𝘺 𝘢 𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯 𝘥𝘦 𝘴𝘢 𝘧𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘦. 𝘊𝘦𝘭𝘢 𝘮'𝘦𝘴𝘵 é𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵 : 𝘫'𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦 à 𝘭'é𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘥𝘦 𝘮𝘢 𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘴é𝘦: 𝘫𝘦 𝘭𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘦, 𝘫𝘦 𝘭'é𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘦 : 𝘫𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘶𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘱 𝘥'𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘵 : 𝘭𝘢 𝘴𝘺𝘮𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘶𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘥𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘧𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘶𝘳𝘴, 𝘰𝘶 𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘥'𝘶𝘯 𝘣𝘰𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘶𝘳 𝘭𝘢 𝘴𝘤è𝘯𝘦.» - Rimbaud Safe to say, it’s an even fight between Blanchett and Chamalet for a proper Bob Dylan, but how this differs is looking at the multiple psyches of Dylan himself, a man of mystery and for someone who made himself so public by way of activism even though he hid behind his sunglasses. But behind the shades and selves, Dylan was, simply, man. Haynes is doing what he is always doing. Multiple perspectives weaved together to say something larger, exploring Dylan by way of queer identity, changing sexes in a Woolfian Orlando (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18839.Orlando?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=I3fmv6gg3F&rank=1) way, to offer another side, to offer empathy shoes to see through more eyes. But the multiple narratives actually abstract Dylan even further. These other faces do what most crowds have always done. Place spotlight on a self, but not seeing inside the self. I think Haynes perfected his layered multiple narratives with his debut (https://letterboxd.com/bulgogiboi/film/poison/). Here, it is interesting but doesn’t necessarily work. Everything aside, it’s fun to see him explore Dylan with his usual antics with a cute nod to Fellini’s 8 1/2 (https://letterboxd.com/bulgogiboi/film/8-half/).

ty

I'm Not There

This film is very special to me. I think that Todd Haynes is so talented at storytelling, along with his visionary capabilities, really knowing how to visually captivate an audience. Such a keen eye for aesthetics. I was so excited when I saw the cast here, and none of them were as traditional as I thought they’d be. This was a really intriguing way to shoot a biopic. It was so chaotic and charming at the same time. We go from documenting to narrating, and keeping the same elements of a biopic, and it all just floats around so fluidly that nothing really feels out of place. It was so refreshing to see how this was shot because, while all these people are ideally the same person, it managed to feel so individualistic, as if these were different people living different lives, but you feel a sense of connection between all of them; showing that this one person is changing in a time period as revolutionary as this one. All having had great performances, which is given, these are some of my favorite and the best actors ever. I never felt uninterested in any of these personas, I guess is the right word to use, especially between Heath and Gainsbourg’s romantic turmoil, and then my Blanchett just doing a cold, arrogant male role like no other. The attention to detail was so precise, and nothing felt out of place. Bob Dylan was a great person to make a biopic on. It was an open door to experiment, to try and make something so original. I don’t think anyone else but Haynes could’ve done it this way, and proficiently. “Seven simple rules of going into hiding: one, never trust a cop in a raincoat. Two, beware of enthusiasm and of love, both are temporary and quick to sway. Three, if asked if you care about the world's problems, look deep into the eyes of he who asks, he will never ask you again. Four, never give your real name. Five, if ever asked to look at yourself, dont. Six, never do anything the person standing in front of you cannot understand. And finlly seven, never create anything, it will be misinterpreted, it will chain you and follow you for the rest of your life.” I accept chaos. I don't know whether it accepts me.