I’m Not There

Bob Dylan gave director Todd Haynes full permission to use his music for an audacious portrait of the paradoxical singer/songwriter. Haynes’ high-concept biopic utilizes six actors to portray various incarnations of Dylan—an imitator of Woody Guthrie, a modern prophet, a media enigma, a punk innovator, a restless family man, a cinema cowboy, and a born-again Christian. The movie spins like a roulette wheel revisiting identities of Dylan that are emphasized with various cinematic styles that make each one distinct. Christian Bale, Cate Blanchette, Marcus Carl Franklin, Richard Gere, Heath Ledger, and Ben Whishaw embody the various phases of Dylan to generally remarkable effect. Here is a virtuosic display of Todd Haynes’ capacity for reflecting Dylan’s forward thinking via a blend of perfectly coded vignettes. It’s not a film for lazy audiences.

Rated R, 135 mins. (B+) (Four Stars)