Thursday, July 24, 2008

The Other Movie w/ Ledger & Bale

I haven't seen the new Batman film yet, but I promise you a review as soon as I happen upon a theater. It's all I've been hearing about lately, but I suppose that by the time I get around to reviewing it, y'all will have seen it already. In lieu of that, I've got a different movie about which I need to talk: I'm Not There. Christian Bale & Heath Ledger play different versions of Dylan... Bale as Dylan around 64'/early '65 & Ledger as Dylan as a 1970s movie star. Along w/ these 2, there is also Richard Gere as Dylan as Billy the Kid in the Old West, Kate Blanchet as Dylan circa late '65/66 during the famous tour of England & Blonde on Blonde, Marcus Carl Franklin as an 11 year old African American Dylan in 1959 named Woody Guthrie, among others. Oddly, David Cross played Allen Ginsberg & did a fantastic job. The real work was done by Todd Haynes who wrote & directed it. It follows the many incarnations of Bob Dylan as he re-envisioned himself over the course of 20 years revolving around the line between public & private personas & the line between the historical & the fictive reality that he created for himself. (not to mention the worlds created in his lyrics from this time period.) The non-linear structure, combined w/ the surrealistic imagery captures Dylan in an amazing way (like a version of Renaldo & Clara that actually works [I do kinda dig Renaldo & Clara too though]). I hope no one ever tries to make a Doors/Buddy Holly Story/Walk the Line/La Bamba/Great Balls of Fire/Ray bio-pic type movie about him because this one is so much more interesting than straight ahead linear "look @ me, I'm famous" movie would ever be. Then, before the closing credits, there is footage of Dylan circa '75, but it's just a close-up of his face as he plays a ridiculously atonal harmonica solo. After 2 hours & 20 minutes of a story based on a life made famous due primarily to his use of language, when he finally appears, he says nothing... awesome!
Other Dylan movies to see:
Don't Look Back
Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid
Renaldo and Clara
Masked and Anonymous
No Direction Home

4 comments:

Unknown said...

So what Dylan do you prefer? How about senile old Dylan? Still waiting..or maybe the time is now!

Andre said...

He's not senile yet... he's been nuts since 1957, but not senile.

As far as the Dylans in the movie go, they're all cool and work nicely together.

peltierinator said...

About Batman, the last 2 have put the Michael Keaton movies to shame. This one is awesome.

Daye said...

Gary Oldman. That's all I 'm sayin.