I’m not there

We just watched I’m Not There, the artsy Dylan biopic. As a hard-core Dylan fan I had to see it at some point. Yes, it’s been getting great reviews on the festival circuit but I have my own version of Dylan and I’m not necessarily prepared to accept someone else’s.

Yes, it’s a good film. The crazy idea of having six actors play the same character actually works. The stories weave in and out of each other in an intuitive rather than a logical way. But it works, it really works. And Cate Blanchett is magnificent. More Dylanesque than ever Dylan himself. Of course Dylan “isn’t there,” none of us ever is.

Yet, I was disappointed overall. There are too many of the same old stories — his rock rebellion at the Newport Folk Festival, the Judas concert in England, the interviews where he runs circles around the horn-rimmed members of the press. It’s all been endlessly recycled many times before. If you’re Dylan, you must consider this lore as a load of superficial pap.

Not unexpectedly the music is the best part of the film. I wanted fewer pictures and more sound.

Btw, I’ve started working pretty seriously on my new book. And I’m listening to Dylan over and over. No one better than him to encourage you to put unexpected words together.