by Alexander Van Terheyden

Created on: August 10, 2008

I'm not there. (2007) Directed by Todd Haynes

There is an idea of a Patrick Bateman; some kind of abstraction. But there is no real me: only an entity, something illusory. And though I can hide my cold gaze, and you can shake my hand and feel flesh gripping yours and maybe you can even sense our lifestyles are probably comparable... I simply am not there.
Ignoring the word simply, the last time I heard "I'm not there" was from the amazing film American Psycho so the first thing that sprang to mind when I first heard of this title were these words uttered by Patrick Bateman. But alas this is something far different.

"I'm Not There" the Biopic of the forever changing man Bob Dylan comes to us from Todd Haynes already familiar with the music genre having delivered the highly original Velvet Goldmine back in 1998. The title stems from a previously unreleased Dylan recording of the title song "I'm Not There", which was recorded during the "The Basement Tapes" sessions. Haynes has set out on a Dylan Journey capturing the truth in the lies, grandeur, childishness and arrogance that made Dylan as notorious as he was and ever will be. Some have called him genius and if you're a fan of any of his work you will marvel at his rhymes and playfulness with harmonica and guitar. Haynes transports you into Dylan's mind as well from a side line through the eyes of many of the people that came across him over the years, by bringing us six incarnations of Bob Dylan: an actor, a folk singer, an electrified troubadour, Rimbaud, Billy the Kid, and Woody Guthrie. On top of this Todd Haynes with pure mixing skill and musical greatness that could probably only be emulated by Bob himself puts Dylan's music behind their adventures, soliloquies, interviews, marriage, and infidelity.
Before seeing this cinematic work I had heard rumours that some of the cast were strong while others put in a weak performance. Well I'm not usually a fan of Richard Gere his movies such as "Shall we Dance" should never had been made and I had heard a lot of bad press in regards to his performance but I think this simply may be down to people not really getting the reasoning behind him as Billy the Kid. Without ruining it for you Gere is a version of the elderly Dylan with the other stories being in the past of this story. This story focuses on Dylan's country life of the Woodstock era and his later years. A very solid performance from Gere - don't believe the haters.
It has been said before but I will say

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