I'm Not There

Though "I'm Not There" never does mention Bob Dylan by name, it's pretty obvious the film is a "biography" of sorts about the musician.

After all, it does include several of his songs, which are interpreted or covered by such artists as Calexico, John Doe, the Million Dollar Bashers, Sonic Youth and Eddie Vedder.

Along with those interpretations, actors Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Marcus Carl Franklin, Richard Gere, Heath Ledger and Ben Whishaw all play different "aspects" of the musician's personality. (A longer version of the movie's title describes it as "Suppositions on a Film Concerning Dylan.")

As you can probably guess from that description, this is a pretty odd movie. It's well-acted but also a bit long and will probably be of less interest to those who aren't already fans of Dylan or his music.

Co-screenwriter/director Todd Haynes looks at several decades of Dylan's career and personal life, including his formative years, in which Haynes depicts him as a young, would-be Woody Guthrie (Franklin plays him here).

Bale plays him as the rising star of folk music (with Julianne Moore essentially playing Joan Baez), Blanchett is the burned-out Dylan on tour in Europe, and Ledger is the struggling husband and family man.

It's astonishing to see how much Blanchett, disguised under sunglasses and a shaggy wig, really does look like the younger Dylan in profile; she's terrific, as always. And Bale doesn't get nearly enough time.

On the other hand, the less successful Western fantasy sequence — featuring Gere as Dylan/Billy the Kid — goes on much too long, and it's hard to know what to make of the wraparound bits with Whishaw as an insolent schoolboy.

"I'm Not There" is rated R for some strong violent imagery (including some child-in-peril elements), strong sexual language (profanity, crude slang terms and other suggestive talk), drug content and references, simulated sex, male and partial female nudity, racial slurs, and brief gore. Running time: 135 minutes.

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