Author Topic: I'm Not There!  (Read 11768 times)

Outatime

  • Junior Member
  • *
  • Posts: 30
Re: I'm Not There!
« Reply #50 on: May 01, 2008, 12:08:20 PM »
http://millionsofmovies.blogspot.com/2008/04/im-not-there-4-stars.html

I wrote a massive review on my film blog if anyone is interested.

I'm a little baffled by your rating of the film - apart from a few performances, you seemed to really hate most of the film, its concept, the directorial choices, and yet you gave it 4 stars? I'm just curious - what do those 4 stars mean?

Yeah, i guess it means i'm going to be watching it many many more times.  You just can't beat a movie about Bob Dylan.  3 or a 3.5 wouldn't give the great stuff in it justice.  I know... it's a flawed rating system i have going.

oneaprilday

  • FAB
  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 13746
  • "What we see and what we seem are but a dream."
    • A Journal of Film
Re: I'm Not There!
« Reply #51 on: May 01, 2008, 12:46:28 PM »
http://millionsofmovies.blogspot.com/2008/04/im-not-there-4-stars.html

I wrote a massive review on my film blog if anyone is interested.

I'm a little baffled by your rating of the film - apart from a few performances, you seemed to really hate most of the film, its concept, the directorial choices, and yet you gave it 4 stars? I'm just curious - what do those 4 stars mean?

Yeah, i guess it means i'm going to be watching it many many more times.  You just can't beat a movie about Bob Dylan.  3 or a 3.5 wouldn't give the great stuff in it justice.  I know... it's a flawed rating system i have going.

Yeah, I see what you mean, and every rating system is flawed, I guess - they're too simplistic (but we still like 'em anyway, don't we?  :)


maņana

  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 20862
  • Check your public library
Re: I'm Not There!
« Reply #52 on: May 14, 2008, 11:04:46 AM »
And Cate Blanchett is playing a dude because she's a phenomenal actress who can pull off playing a dude.

She is also playing him in his most androgynous period. Dylan around '66 has this tiny little body and he has these gestures with his skinny fingers that Blanchett really nails. It's bizarre but brilliant casting.
There's no deceit in the cauliflower.

maņana

  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 20862
  • Check your public library
Re: DVD
« Reply #53 on: May 14, 2008, 01:54:46 PM »
Does anybody have the DVD? What are the special features like?
There's no deceit in the cauliflower.

sdedalus

  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 16585
  • I have a prestigious blog, sir!
    • The End of Cinema
Re: I'm Not There!
« Reply #54 on: May 14, 2008, 02:55:34 PM »
I do and they're good.  Todd Haynes commentary, a second disc full of stuff.  Not Criterion quality, but not bad at all.
The End of Cinema

Seattle Screen Scene

"He was some kind of a man. What does it matter what you say about people?"

maņana

  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 20862
  • Check your public library
Re: I'm Not There!
« Reply #55 on: May 14, 2008, 08:59:59 PM »
I do and they're good.  Todd Haynes commentary, a second disc full of stuff.  Not Criterion quality, but not bad at all.

Sounds good. The commentary will give him a chance to explain himself.
There's no deceit in the cauliflower.

maņana

  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 20862
  • Check your public library
Re: I'm Not There!
« Reply #56 on: May 19, 2008, 04:14:53 PM »
I re-watched it yesterday and I've gone from cautious appreciation to enthusiasm. With that said I can't imagine non-Bobmaniacs getting in to this film. Except maybe film geeks who like to spot the Fellini and Godard references.   
There's no deceit in the cauliflower.

oneaprilday

  • FAB
  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 13746
  • "What we see and what we seem are but a dream."
    • A Journal of Film
Re: I'm Not There!
« Reply #57 on: May 19, 2008, 04:59:47 PM »
I re-watched it yesterday and I've gone from cautious appreciation to enthusiasm. With that said I can't imagine non-Bobmaniacs getting in to this film. Except maybe film geeks who like to spot the Fellini and Godard references.  

I'm not a Bobmaniac (though what I've heard of his I generally like) and I'm not yet geeky enough (I hope to attain geekdom one day) to spot Fellini and Godard references, but I absolutely loved I'm Not There. Partly because the performances are so good, partly because the whole concept of approaching a biopic in this way appeals to my post-modern and/or literary sensibilities.

maņana

  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 20862
  • Check your public library
Re: I'm Not There!
« Reply #58 on: May 20, 2008, 09:37:55 PM »
I re-watched it yesterday and I've gone from cautious appreciation to enthusiasm. With that said I can't imagine non-Bobmaniacs getting in to this film. Except maybe film geeks who like to spot the Fellini and Godard references.   

I'm not a Bobmaniac (though what I've heard of his I generally like) and I'm not yet geeky enough (I hope to attain geekdom one day) to spot Fellini and Godard references, but I absolutely loved I'm Not There. Partly because the performances are so good, partly because the whole concept of approaching a biopic in this way appeals to my post-modern and/or literary sensibilities.

Don't get me wrong, I think it's a great film. You're right he approaches the biopic in a new and exciting way while maintaining many of the genre's conventions --- meager beginnings, troubled marriage, drug abuse. Furthermore there are numerous terrific performances, chiefly Blanchett, Ledger, and Gainsbourg.

Despite your love, I still wonder what reaction most non-fans are having. For example how do they respond to the Richard Gere thread? Without background knowledge of Dylan's life how can people understand how this ties to the other threads? Is the response merely visceral?     
There's no deceit in the cauliflower.

sdedalus

  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 16585
  • I have a prestigious blog, sir!
    • The End of Cinema
Re: I'm Not There!
« Reply #59 on: May 21, 2008, 12:49:56 AM »
It may be a tougher nut without knowing Dylan, but the Gere story isn't totally unique within the film, where several of the Bobs are besieged and attempt to retreat from the world.  The Gere story is really just the middle section of Bale's story, where the protest singer goes into hiding only to come back out many years later transformed into a committed Christian.  There's also a link between Gere and Ledger: when Gere stares of into the mountains and hears flashes of Eddie Vedder's All Along The Watchtower, the song which also accompanies Charlotte Gainsbourg watching TV coverage of Vietnam.  It's as if Gere's remembering his past life with her.
The End of Cinema

Seattle Screen Scene

"He was some kind of a man. What does it matter what you say about people?"