Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. I moderated a panel with Eli Roth at the New York Comic-Con (and interviewed an idol of mine, Stephen King) and talked to a few readers in my brief time at the Con... it seems as if I kinda inadvertently recruited a spy while at the Con and now that spy has seen I'M NOT THERE with a Q&A with director Todd Haynes and actor Bruce Greenwood. Enjoy "Marshmeli's" review.
Hey Quint, Tonight I saw a movie and since it hasn't been release yet I figured I would send you a review of it. Hoping to get the chance to run into you again this year at NYC Comic Con, my fiancee (girlfriend at that time) and I meet you right after Eli Roth's session while waiting in line to have our posters signed. Now, on to the review: I will make this review nice and short because I know you have previously ran reviews of the film. If you use this on the site you can call me marshmeli. Tonight I saw I'm Not There at the Museum of the Moving Image screening in NYC with Todd Haynes and Bruce Greenwood at the end for a Q&A. Right off the bat I can say that it was a very interesting and different film - as you can tell from the premise of it being the early career of Bob Dylan portrayed by 6 different actors who are of different ages, sex and even race. There is definately a lot to take in and it REALLY helps if you know about Bob Dylan. I know a decent amount about him by being a fan of his music, but my Fiancee who also went with me (you can call her "my better half") knew little to nothing about him and did not like the movie at all. Not a typical mainstream movie, the individual stories meld together at different points in time. I felt, when jumping from character to character the main concern while gathering all the information should be the attitudes and opinions/views of what each Dylan is saying and living not so much the context of how and where it is happening (though that is important in its own right). The film is also very interesting because the story of John/Jack (Bale) is shown as a pseudo-documentary so that a nice change of pace in the film. The editing is top notch and the acting is superb. Cate Blanchett, Heath Ledger, and Ben Whishaw have the most amount of screen time though all the actors have ample time and each story is entertaining. Jude's (Blanchett) story was the most enjoyable and informative to me along with John/Jack's. You really feel the actors are engulfed in Dylan's life but are just a different visual representation of him. They each do a great job with their voices, again though, Cate really nails it. I was also able to attend the Concert on Thursday in celebration of the film at the Beacon Theater and most of the artists from the great soundtrack where there performing. As Todd mentioned in the Q&A having the actors mainly lip sync in the film to the covers of the Dylan's amazing songs was a nice touch and helped the viewer know that you were watching a character playing a different persona of Dylan and not just an actor in Biopic imitating the musician. For me, there was also 2 enjoyable cameos of musicians in the film: Richie Havens early on; and Jim James (from My Morning Jacket) towards the end. Another interesting thing I learned from the Q&A was that Todd always intended to cast the Jude character as a female. All and all, I was happy to see the film. However, I can definitely not recommend it to everyone and for non-Dylan fans who may not enjoy watching a non-linear story with lots of interpretation I may go as far to suggest waiting until the DVD is out, it may help for an easier time to follow the story. If you would like to view the story about one of the most brilliant musicians ever and want to see a non-traditional biopic, this is the film for you.
