One Good Film: "I'm Not There"
Like Dylan himself, the meanings of this once-radical film have come to seem accepted wisdom and common comfort.
A regular feature for paid Watch List subscribers: I suggest one reasonably under-the-radar movie from the recent or distant past, and you do what you want with that information.
“I’m Not There” (2007, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐) has recently arrived on The Criterion Channel (while remaining available for rental elsewhere) and, at 16, is ripe for reconsideration. Todd Haynes’ Bob Dylan bio-fantasia is one of the more discombobulating major works of the new century, and I love (almost) every minute of it, but you do need to know your Bob esoterica to tell warp from weft, and it helps to have a guide through the movie’s nearly avant-garde stations of the cross. To that end – and because it’s no longer available on the Boston Globe’s website – I've posted my 2007 review of the film its entirety below the paywall. (It may be the longest review I was able to get into the paper in 19 years; it's certainly one of the ones where I felt I grappled with a "difficult" movie in way that helped clarify it for myself and, hopefully, for readers.) Like Dylan himself, the meanings of this once-radical film have come to seem accepted wisdom and common comfort: In an age of influencers, catfishers, and the business of the self, the restless reinventions of "I'm Not There" make more sense than ever.
