Review: Bob Dylan flick an enjoyable ride

Directed by: Todd Haynes

Starring: Cate Blanchett, Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Richard Gere, Marcus Carl Franklin, Ben Whishaw, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Julianne Moore, Bruce Greenwood

Rated: R

If you want a Bob Dylan biography, seek out D.A. Pennebaker’s 1967 documentary “Don’t Look Back” and Martin Scorsese’s sweeping 2005 masterpiece “No Direction Home.” Taken together, they will supply the viewer with every bit of historical minutia about Robert Zimmerman, the kid from Minnesota who became Bob Dylan, the poet of a generation (whether he likes it or not).

But watching Todd Haynes’ “I’m Not There” is as enigmatic as listening to Dylan’s music. I’m a die-hard, longtime Dylan fan but will readily admit I have no idea what some of his songs mean.

Haynes has never made a film that wasn’t thought-provoking. “Safe” was a metaphor for the era of HIV, “Poison” is a trilogy of short films, each one more disturbing than the former. Even his most commercially successful film, “Far from Heaven,” is, at its core, a very disturbing story.

In “I’m Not There,” which Haynes wrote as well as directed, he uses six actors to portray Dylan. They range from a young African-American boy, Marcus Carl Franklin, to Australian actress Cate Blanchett. Richard Gere, Christian Bale, Heath Ledger and Ben Whishaw also take turns. None of the characters are named Bob or Dylan. Nonetheless, they have names that will ring bells with Dylan fans.

Franklin is “Woody Guthrie.” Gere is “Billy the Kid.” Blanchett is “Jude Quinn,” as in “The Mighty Quinn.”

It’s Blanchett who gives the most riveting performance. Her presentation is of the “Highway 61 Revisted” era when Dylan was an outcast from the folk music community, which had embraced him as its new messiah but considered him a “traitor” when he dared to incorporate electric instruments into his live shows and recordings. Dylan fans will recognize many of the circumstances – including the audience member at The Royal Albert Hall who shouts “Judas!” – as real events in the singer’s life.

Blanchett looks uncannily like the Dylan of this period but manages to retain her femininity, elegance and beauty. She’s a great actress, and this is one of the strangest (but also most perfectly executed) performances I’ve ever seen.

Julianne Moore – a longtime Haynes collaborator – plays a character obviously based on Joan Baez, Dylan’s one-time lover, longtime champion and herself a respected folk singer. French beauty Charlotte Gainsbourg plays Claire, a woman the Dylan character weds and tries to settle down with.

Haynes’ films always feature very strong female characters, and he continues that trend here. Gainsbourg, Moore and Blanchett give “I’m Not There” most of its heart and soul.

There’s no use in trying to describe the plot. It would be like trying to tell someone what Dylan’s“Subterranean Homesick Blues” is really about.

After leaving the theater, I went home and put on “Highway 61 Revisted.” A line in “Ballad of a Thin Man” seemed to sum up “I’m Not There:” “Because something is happening and you don’t know what it is, do you, Mr. Jones?”

Sometimes you really don’t need to know what’s happening. Just enjoy the ride.

If you’re a Dylan fan, see the film. It’s playing at The Moxie through Jan. 22.

Jim Wunderle owns Wunderle Sound Services and is a Springfield freelance writer and musician. He can be reached at info@wunderlesound.com.