DVD Pick: I’m Not There

I’m Not There was an audacious and brilliantly executed examination of the life and music of Bob Dylan. Writer-director Todd Haynes inverted the usual music biopic formula by having six different actors play a version of the enigmatic singer-songwriter. Marcus Carl Franklin, Ben Whishaw, Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Richard Gere and Heath Ledger all play characters based on Dylan and the film is a patchwork of different stories based on chapters of his life. Franklin is the young guitar player, Wishaw the budding poet, Bale the folk icon (and later the born again Christian), Blanchett the iconic 60s rock star, Gere the actor on a Western and Ledger the disillusioned 70s celebrity. Although this approach might seem a little esoteric it has the effect of tapping right into the themes and brilliance of Dylan’s music, which is... [read full story]