1.04.2008

I'm Not There




Cate Blanchett as a Dylan doppelganger and David Cross as Allen Ginsberg in I'm Not There (dir. Todd Haynes, 2007).

I loved Safe and Far from Heaven, but this almost makes me detest Todd Haynes. The "postmodern" structure is embarrassingly dated--people were doing lots of fractured storyline stuff like this in the nineties, and it wasn't much more interesting then. Two hours and fifteen minutes feels much longer. Christian Bale is particularly embarrassing to watch. Actually, almost everyone is embarrassing except the astounding Cate Blanchett, who deserves more than an Oscar. She deserves her own country or something.

A lot of the music is very good. I especially liked the Calexico cover of "Going to Acapulco."

4 comments:

Providence said...

spot on, as always. i was uncomfortably tweaked by the discrepancy between blanchett's performance & haynes' dated narrative triggers. perhaps the film makes up for the fact that we'll never have the more or less identical scenario of a bob dylan "reunion" tour.

Lacey Hunter said...

Now, now Kasey, I would argue that the little boy was a fine folk singer. Blachette does deserve her own country, or at least her own state. Maybe we could rename North Dakota in honor of her, give it some extra flare.

CLAY BANES said...

Yes. Yes. Thank you.

Collin Kelley said...

I thought it was the best movie of 2007. Blanchett was fantastic, as was the young African-American boy and Heath Ledger.