I'm Not There

By Stuart Brown

 

I’m not there is a film by Todd Hayes inspired by the life and songs of Bob Dylan. It opens with a POV black and white grainy shot of Cate Blanchet’s character Jude Quinn making his way through backstage to way to a performance. The film cuts to Quinn then riding his motorcycle as the opening title appears, and then to Quinn dead on a table with an autopsy about to take place.

Marcus Carl Franklin plays Woody, a young travelling african american boy who’s run away from his foster care home dreaming of becoming a musician. The Arvin family befriend Woody, giving him food, shelter and encouragement. He leaves the next morning, and upon his train journey three men attempt to rob him and Woody falls from the moving train into a lake, after trying to protect his guitar from the thieves. He awakes in hospital to find that the couple that found him and saved him have waited for him to wake up. He performs for them at their home and they tell him to stay as long as he needs to get better. After a call from the foster care home, Woody carries on his travels. Upon a train he reads from a newspaper “Famed Folk Stylist of yesteryear languishes grievously in New Jersey Hospital.” He proceeds to visit the man and bring the stranger flowers and plays for him.

Christian Bale plays Jack Rollins, a popular rebellious folk singer wring songs about current problems in the world. His story is told through interviews with friends and family of the character, with footage and photographs playing of him performing his music. At an expensive dinner where he is being awarded the Tom Paine Award he drunkenly makes a speech saying that he saw something of himself in the late JFK’s murderer (which quotes what Dylan once said receiving the same award.) We are told he issued an apology the next day. We are later told he became a Christian at  the gateway brotherhood church and became a minister, referring himself as father John.

Heath ledger plays Robbie, an actor starring in a film about Jack Rollins. He meets in a French girl on set and later in a coffee shop after filming his latest scene and they discuss it, and what Robbie truly cares about and what lies in the center of his world. They quickly fall in love, movie in together and buy a motorcycle. They view Robbie’s new film, but a voice over tells us they are disappointed with its outcome. Coming back to Robbie sometime later, we see him on a plane, flash back to him at a party held at his house, when his girlfriend sees him smoking outside talking to another girl. Then we cut back to him on a plane, everything here seeming very misplaced in the editing process.

We come back to Jude Quinn playing a gig in New England (a rock version on Maggies Farm) to a booing folk loving crowd who hate the performance, (this is also something that Dylan actually did.) At a press conference following the gig Quinn defends his music against arguments that his music is persuading his ideals, an interview based and quoted from again an actual Dylan press conference. A waiter then threatens Quinn with a knife for “stabbing truth in the eye.” He is quickly knocked out by Quinn’s current lover, a very random and somewhat pointless scene. When we come back to Quinn’s story a bit later on in the film and we see Quinn meet poet Alan Ginsberg and has a conversation about what Alan said to a reporter when asked if he thought Quinn sold out, he said, “only to god.” While in the middle of an interview with a different reporter, Keenan Jones, Quinn becomes very angry and uncomfortable when asked if he cares about the lyrics in his songs. He then performs the song Mr. Jones as Keenan Jones acts out those lyrics. Another seemingly pointless scene. While performing another song, an audience member shouts out “Judas” to which Quinn replies “ I don’t believe you” (Reacting what similarly happened to Dylan on stage with the same response) and the crowd attempt to attack Quinn and his band who are forced to finish their show. We are told quite randomly of Jack Rollins love for Billy the Kid, in all probability just to introduce the next character.

Richard Genre Plays Billy the kid, who with after his dog Henry runs off, chasses after on his horse. He looks off to the distance worriedly on his horse on a hilltop and we cut back to Robbie come to greet a clearly upset wife at his home. Billy the kid then continues to chase after his dog, and asks villiagemen if they have seen his dog, he then discovers that ‘Pat Garrett’ plans destruction for Riddle County, and this somehow could’ve spooked his dog. 

Back to Robbie, and his wife and baby, who argue over Robbie’s sexist remarks. He falls out with his friend as they seem to have changed from the men they once were throughout the years. Annnnnnddd back to Billy the Kid. As the town prepare for Halloween we randomly cut away again, but I will stop trying to write every time the film cuts, as quite honestly the unpredictable, rushed and irritating cuts happen quicker momentarily than I can type. 

Somewhere in those many strange cuts it was shown that in Jude Quinn’s house Keenan Jones reveals Quinn’s real name as Aaron Jacob Edelstein, something that happed to Dylan when his birth name was revealed to be Robert Zimmerman. As Quinn later throws a party, his drug use clearly is getting worse, where this pretentious self obsessed character throws up on his friends lap and insults a former girlfriend. Quinn and Alan Gingsberg then shout abuse like “you better get down from there you’ll hurt yourself!” and “play some of your early stuff” at a sculpture of Jesus on a cross. The meaning of this, other than their equal hatred for Christianity and reflection of being famous seem to come to light, are only that the characters are obnoxious.

Robbie is seen looking through old photographs of his family, his wife talks over why she has decided to leave him. They argue about who would get custody of the kids when his wife says she isn’t going to try and take them away from him, making the argument seem somewhat pointless. They cuddle, get divorced and we the two continue with their separate lives. 

Billy then argues in public against the plans to destroy his town of Riddle County. And is then arrested despite the crowds protests. Billy the kid is then put in a car (despite the setting of his story seemingly being in the 1800’s until now) and put in jail.

We then come back to Jude Quinn who’s lying on the floor with “stable vitals” where Gingsberg says he probably will never get back on stage as he’s gotten into too many psyches. Another character states death is too much a part of the American scene these days. Robbie sees his kids at Christmas and takes them for a holiday. Billy the kid escapes jail and jumps on a train, seeing his dog Henry for the last time, also quite randomly. We see (or hear) Quinn crash his motorcycle (resulting in his death) and finally his in a car making an earlier set interview, where he states “everyone knows I’m not a folk singer” perhaps indicating that she was really more of an activist. Billy the kid wakes up on the train and finds a guitar that is the same one Woody was playing at the beginning of the film.

While trying to be original in narrative as these stories are told in different parts randomly through the film (even more than I have described), the actual result just makes the film hard to follow and unnecessarily complex. A plot is hard to recognise throughout the film, is it is essentially Dylan based characters living out Dylan based lives in a random order that serves no purpose. An hour in and my nerve to turn the film off (something I have only ever have done once) was growing ever more tempting. It seems, this juxtaposition of many random tales will only be recognisable for die hard Dylan fans, and it has amazed me how it gained such good reviews, though the acting is top notch, the editing, direction and script are appalling. 

I am actually a rather big fan of Dylan’s, hopping to see a biopic of his life with different actors portraying the famous musician, this film is noting what I expected to see, and has disappointed me hugely. The best I could advise it is just to put it on as background sound as the occasional Dylan song that pops up is pleasant to listen too, but you’re better off buying a Dylan CD, I would personally recommend “The essential Bob Dylan” and not this drizzle of a film. It would not help our research, and is one of the worst films I have ever seen. Why the below picture says these actors portray Bob Dylan is beyond me, they play charcters inspired by Bob Dylan, and Richard Gere plays Billy the Kid. Its false advertising at its finest.