Taglines: All I can do is be me whoever that is.
I’m Not There is a 2007 biographical musical film directed by Todd Haynes, inspired by the life and music of American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. Six actors depict different facets of Dylan’s public personas: Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Marcus Carl Franklin, Richard Gere, Heath Ledger, and Ben Whishaw. At the start of the film, a caption reads: “Inspired by the music and the many lives of Bob Dylan”. Apart from the song credits, this is the only mention of Bob Dylan in the film.
The film tells its story using non-traditional narrative techniques, intercutting the storylines of seven different Dylan-inspired characters. The title of the film is taken from the 1967 Dylan Basement Tape recording of “I’m Not There”, a song that had not been officially released until it appeared on the film’s soundtrack album. The film received a generally favorable response, and appeared on several top ten film lists for 2007, topping the lists for The Village Voice, Entertainment Weekly, Salon and The Boston Globe. Particular praise went to Cate Blanchett for her performance, culminating in a Volpi Cup from the Venice Film Festival, the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress, along with an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress nomination.
The film begins with Jude Quinn (Cate Blanchett) walking onto a stage to perform, before cutting to him riding a motorcycle which crashes—a reference to Dylan having a serious motorcycle accident in 1966.[3] The film then cuts to Quinn’s body on a mortuary slab as an autopsy begins.
Woody (Marcus Carl Franklin), an 11-year old African American boy, is seen with a guitar which carries the label “This machine kills fascists” as he travels the country. (Folk singer Woody Guthrie had an identical label on his guitar.)[4] Woody befriends the African-American Arvin family, who give him food and hospitality, and Woody in turn performs Bob Dylan’s 1965 song “Tombstone Blues”, accompanied by Richie Havens (as Old Man Arvin). At dinner, Mrs. Arvin advises Woody: “Live your own time, child, sing about your own time”.
Later that night, Woody leaves the Arvins’ home and catches a ride on a train, where a group of hobos try to rob him. He jumps from the train into a river, where a white couple rescue him and take him to their home. They receive a phone call from a juvenile correction center in Minnesota from which Woody had escaped. The phone call prompts Woody’s swift departure, and he takes a Greyhound bus to Greystone Park Hospital in New Jersey, where he visits (the real) Woody Guthrie, leaving flowers at Guthrie’s bedside and playing his guitar.
I’m Not There (2007)
Directed by: Todd Haynes
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Richard Gere, Heath Ledger, Christian Bale, Michelle Williams, Julianne Moore, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Ben Whishaw, Kris Kristofferson, Larry Day
Screenplay by: Todd Haynes
Production Design by: Judy Becker
Cinematography by: Edward Lachman
Film Editing by: Jay Rabinowitz
Costume Design by: John Dunn
Set Decoration by: Ann Smart, Louise Tremblay
Art Direction by: Pierre Perrault
MPAA Rating: R for language, some sexuality and nudity.
Studio: The Weinstein Company
Release Date: November 21, 2007
Views: 73
