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December 7, 2007 > Arts & Entertainment > Dylan isn’t there, but his image shines through

Dylan isn’t there, but his image shines through

By Hajera Blagg | For the Thresher

The latest Bob Dylan biopic and unique visual indulgence, I’m Not There, defies all the rules of the traditional biographical film.

The gimmick of the film is that six different actors portray seven stages in Dylan’s life, and it never once spirals into an incoherent mess.

In that sense, Todd Haynes’ film then is more than just a biopic. It looks and feels like a narrative collage. It is a statement about perception, obsession and cultural relevance. Bob Dylan both controlled his public persona and unwittingly allowed it to be controlled by his fans, the media and the generation that he represented. Haynes expresses the idea that Dylan was whatever we wanted him to be.

Dylan’s six different manifestations are in some cases unusual. Cate Blanchett (Babel) as Dylan at the height of his musical career has garnered the most publicity, and despite the gender switch, Blanchett’s character is the most physically identifiable. She talks like Dylan, walks like Dylan and dresses like Dylan. At the same time, however, the illusion is just that. Look once, it’s Dylan. Look again and it’s a skilled actress who inhabits the Dylan character but never becomes him.

As for the other depictions, Heath Ledger (Brokeback Mountain) plays the unlikable hippie, Christian Bale (American Psycho) gives us the folk singer, a young African-American boy, Marcus Carl Franklin (The Water is Wide) portrays the pre-famous Dylan and Richard Gere (Bee Season) presents us with the Western outlaw. The sixth Dylan, played by Ben Whishaw (Layer Cake), is Dylan the poet. There are so many Dylans, and yet not once in the entire movie is Bob Dylan mentioned by name.

This is where the title of the film — and the point of the film — comes into focus. What makes Bob Dylan so interesting beyond the great music is the great myth. Adept at transformation, Bob Dylan has reinvented himself more times than the George Foreman Grilling Machine. Thus, previous efforts at pinning the singer down — namely, D.A. Pennebaker’s film Don’t Look Back and a handful of unauthorized biographies — have failed because they were all attempts at unveiling the “real” Bob Dylan, when not a single one exists.

For those viewers who do not know much about Bob Dylan’s life, I’m Not There still has much to offer. The most absurd scenes, including the Beatles getting stoned for their first time and poet Allen Ginsberg joining Dylan in poking fun of a statue of Christ on the cross, provide a delirious brand of humor that pops up throughout the film. Haynes even transforms Dylan’s lyrics into entire characters and mini-storylines that seamlessly flow with the narrative.

But above all, the music, a carefully selected soundtrack that demonstrates Dylan’s incredible lyrical and musical range, propels the movie forward just when it is on the brink of losing everyone except the most astute Dylan scholars. So even if Dylan was never there, or is never there, this film more than makes up for his absence.

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