Post by dave910 on Jul 16, 2008 0:11:42 GMT -5
Last Night I had the chance to view "I'm Not There", it's movie loosely based on the events and life of legendary performer Bob Dylan. This wasn't the conventional hollywood biopic. The director cast six different actors to portray Dylan from varying eras of his life. A similar approach was tried when Yoko Ono offered "Lennon" a staged musical about the slain Beatle. The reviews were horrible and it couldn't get an audience. "I'm Not There" may not have broken box office records, but got excellent reviews.
The basis of the film works like this: a young folk singer Jack, goes to Greenwhich Village and busts his ass to make it coffee houses. He gets an audition with Columbia Records,gets signed and begins to write and record albums that resonate with critics and fans alike. 8-)Jack goes onto Newport Folk Festival (known as New England Folk Festival in the film). During one of the Newport visits he dares himself by playing electric. This causes dismay to his die hards to boo him mercilessly well as driving another folk legend to grab an ax and threaten to end Jack's set.
Cate Blanchett portrays the sarcastic Jack being drilled by reporters on the meaning of his lyrics and his political leanings. Blanchett is beliveable even though it is a woman portraying a man's role. Her mannerisms are perfect! Hell, actors in Shakespeare's time did almost the same thing, except in reverse.
Despite being raised Jewish in an upperclass suburb in Middle America, Jack struggles with his spiritual identity. He and a girlfriend attend a bible study and Jack decides to become a born-again Christian.
I don't want to give away too much of the movie, but I highly recommend this film. Even if you are not a fan of Dylan, you'll love the performances. It's very haunting too see Heath Leger dive so much into one of Jack's personnas. A talent gone way too soon!
The basis of the film works like this: a young folk singer Jack, goes to Greenwhich Village and busts his ass to make it coffee houses. He gets an audition with Columbia Records,gets signed and begins to write and record albums that resonate with critics and fans alike. 8-)Jack goes onto Newport Folk Festival (known as New England Folk Festival in the film). During one of the Newport visits he dares himself by playing electric. This causes dismay to his die hards to boo him mercilessly well as driving another folk legend to grab an ax and threaten to end Jack's set.
Cate Blanchett portrays the sarcastic Jack being drilled by reporters on the meaning of his lyrics and his political leanings. Blanchett is beliveable even though it is a woman portraying a man's role. Her mannerisms are perfect! Hell, actors in Shakespeare's time did almost the same thing, except in reverse.
Despite being raised Jewish in an upperclass suburb in Middle America, Jack struggles with his spiritual identity. He and a girlfriend attend a bible study and Jack decides to become a born-again Christian.
I don't want to give away too much of the movie, but I highly recommend this film. Even if you are not a fan of Dylan, you'll love the performances. It's very haunting too see Heath Leger dive so much into one of Jack's personnas. A talent gone way too soon!
