list http://www.spout.com/ Recent community activity around Masked and Anonymous on Spout Copyright 2005-9 Spout, LLC Spout RSS http://www.spout.com/images/SpoutLogoRSS.jpg http://www.spout.com/ 136 30 http://www.spout.com/films/Masked_and_Anonymous/222896/default.aspx Title: Masked and Anonymous
Year: 2003
Director: Larry Charles
Plot: Enigmatic rock legend Bob Dylan stars as an enigmatic rock legend (talk about a casting coup!) in this purposefully eccentric satiric comedy. Uncle Sweetheart (John Goodman) is an unscrupulous concert promoter who has figured out a way to cash in on the feelings of doubt and uncertainty that plague his nation, which is being torn apart by civil war and political revolution. Sweetheart has decided he will stage a massive benefit concert, though the unnamed charity would appear to be his checking account. Sweetheart hires television producer Nina Veronica (Jessica Lange) to help promote the show and sell it as a nation-wide cable-cast event, while Sweetheart pulls a few strings to arrange for the perfect headliner -- Jack Fate (Bob Dylan), a legendary songwriter who is currently serving a term in prison. With Fate out from behind bars, Sweetheart and Veronica set out to sell their grand spectacle to the world, though one determined investigative journalist (Jeff Bridges) has set out to throw a spenner into the works of Uncle Sweetheart and his epic fundraiser. Marking the directorial debut of comedy writer Larry Charles, Masked and Anonymous also features Penelope Cruz and Luke Wilson; the film was shown in competition at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Number of Lists: 2
Number of blog posts: 3
SpoutRating: 2
]]>Tue, 13 Jan 2009 22:01:36 GMTMasked and Anonymous2003Larry CharlesEnigmatic rock legend <a href="/players/P____88557/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Bob Dylan</a> stars as an enigmatic rock legend (talk about a casting coup!) in this purposefully eccentric satiric comedy. Uncle Sweetheart (<a href="/players/P____27679/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>John Goodman</a>) is an unscrupulous concert promoter who has figured out a way to cash in on the feelings of doubt and uncertainty that plague his nation, which is being torn apart by civil war and political revolution. Sweetheart has decided he will stage a massive benefit concert, though the unnamed charity would appear to be his checking account. Sweetheart hires television producer Nina Veronica (<a href="/players/P____40447/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Jessica Lange</a>) to help promote the show and sell it as a nation-wide cable-cast event, while Sweetheart pulls a few strings to arrange for the perfect headliner -- Jack Fate (<a href="/players/P____88557/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Bob Dylan</a>), a legendary songwriter who is currently serving a term in prison. With Fate out from behind bars, Sweetheart and Veronica set out to sell their grand spectacle to the world, though one determined investigative journalist (<a href="/players/P_____3197/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Jeff Bridges</a>) has set out to throw a spenner into the works of Uncle Sweetheart and his epic fundraiser. Marking the directorial debut of comedy writer Larry Charles, Masked and Anonymous also features Penelope Cruz and <a href="/players/P___200995/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Luke Wilson</a>; the film was shown in competition at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide232http://www.spout.com/ProductImages/t38884ids73.jpghttp://www.spout.com/films/Masked_and_Anonymous/222896/default.aspxFilm http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/archive/2009/1/13/39472.aspx Post By: SpoutBlog
Post To: SpoutBlog on spout.com
Post Date: 1/13/2009 5:01:36 PM
Body: Getting ready for the Sundance Film Festival can be very exciting. As we await the event’s Thursday opening, we can’t stop wondering what will be the next big thing. Will this year’s hit be the highly-anticipated Michael Cera project Paper Hearts, or will it be something that we as of yet know nothing about? It’s easy to forget, however, that oftentimes the next big thing is also the next lamest thing. Sundance sensations, those films that are much-buzzed-about, that sell for a lot of money, that go on to be marketed like crazy and ultimately receive Oscar recognition, tend to lend themselves most easily to backlashes. Usually such derision is deserved, as in the case of the following ten films, each of which made a big splash at Sundance despite being bad. 10. Brick (Rian Johnson; 2005 Sundance premiere) When Blade Runner was first released, critics attacked its novelty of combining film noir with science fiction. Yet when Brick arrived in Park City, its similar genre-bending mix of film noir and teen films was welcomed as the most original film in years. In both circumstances, critics were wrong, and while Blade Runner ultimately became a classic, Brick is retrospectively even sillier now than it was when it won a Special Jury Prize “for originality of vision” four years ago. Yes, the film is a fresh idea in theory, but it doesn’t really work on screen, no matter how much you want it to or think it does. It’s simply a novelty gag for film geeks who love noir — while not quite as enjoyable for fans of the teen genre. Is there really anyone who wouldn’t just rather watch a double feature of The Big Sleep and Heathers? 9. Little Miss Sunshine (Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris; 2006 Sundance premiere) Never mind its impact on the culture of Sundance. The annoying “what will be the next Little Miss Sunshine?” idea was just a substitute for similar questions going back as far as 1990 (“what will be the next sex, lies, and videotape?”). The real problem with LMS is that it’s a decent dysfunctional family comedy that falls apart in the third act. On the positive side, it finally got Alan Arkin an Oscar. But on the more glaring negative side, it also got Abigail Breslin an Oscar nomination. Hardly worthy, also, of its Best Picture nod or its Best Original Screenplay win, the film’s success is the product of a terrific marketing team and moviegoers’ acceptance of cheesy endings — and has nothing to do with the quality of the film. 8. The Brothers McMullen (Edward Burns; 1995 Sundance premiere) While the name Fox Searchlight is now synonymous with marketing the hell out of “indie” sensations like Little Miss Sunshine, Juno and Slumdog Millionaire, the specialty division has been overdoing it with unworthy films since the very first Sundance hit they distributed. The Brothers McMullen is not necessarily a bad film, but it isn’t anything special either. Some say the 1995 fest was the downward turning point for Sundance, whether because it showed us a major “sellout” who wasn’t actually as good as he’d been celebrated as being (Kevin Smith, who disappointed with his sophomore effort, Mallrats) or because a lackluster picture like McMullen won the Grand Jury Prize. And like Smith, Edward Burns ultimately revealed himself to be something of an embarrassment, talent-wise, to the reputation of Sundance alums. 7. Garden State (Zach Braff; 2004 Sundance premiere) 2004 was the year that indie quirkiness got out of hand at Sundance (see #3). Sure, Garden State got us all into The Shins, but it also got filmmakers too into a genre I call “homecoming of age” movies, those banal stories about twenty- and thirty- somethings who revisit their homes due to a dying or dead parent and involve themselves with wacky townies in the process. Any idiot can write a script of this type and fill it with quirky scenery and an obnoxious yet adorable love interest. Sundance must still be getting countless submissions of this kind of film, but unfortunately for the rest of the world’s idiot filmmakers, they aren’t TV stars like Zach Braff. 6. SherryBaby (Laurie Collyer; 2006 Sundance premiere) Sundance has long been a haven for depressing films involving junkies and/or incest, but few have been as overrated as SherryBaby. Once again, it’s all about the star power, as the film might not have been so hyped had Maggie Gyllenhaal not been in the lead. Then again, it might have actually been a better film without her. Grandly over-praised for her performance as the easily played rehabilitating mom, the actress got undeserved kudos simply for being raw and despicable. Her Oscar snub was a relief, at least. 5. Born Into Brothels (Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman; 2004 Sundance premiere) It may have won the documentary Audience Award at Sundance and the documentary Oscar a year later, but that doesn’t excuse Born Into Brothels from being a disgrace to nonfiction filmmaking. One of the most self-satisfying docs ever made, the film will forever be marked by its footage of co-director Zana Briski figuratively patting herself on the back during a fundraiser, with which she sinfully seeks sainthood for involving herself in the lives of her film’s subjects. If documentary was synonymous with charity, Born Into Brothels would indeed be a great film, but documentaries like this should merely be an inspiration to charity, not charity itself. 4. Masked and Anonymous (Larry Charles; 2003 Sundance premiere) One of the most anticipated films of the 2003 festival due to a script co-written by Bob Dylan and an unbelievable cast including Dylan, Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Penelope Cruz, Ed Harris, Luke Wilson, Mickey Rourke, Angela Bassett, Jessica Lange and many other big names, the very messy Masked and Anonymous therefore ended up the biggest disappointment of that year. Its worth was later defended and praised by such critics as Jonathan Rosenbaum, who included it in his 2003 Top Ten list, and Salon.com’s Stephanie Zacharek. But most of us are in agreement that it’s one of the biggest wastes of talent in years. 3. Napoleon Dynamite (Jared Hess; 2004 Sundance premiere) Napoleon Dynamite’s inclusion on this list is likely to upset more people than Brick’s, but at least the Brick devotees can defend their fandom with more than just shouts of “It’s funny!” Because the thing is, Napoleon Dynamite is not comedy. It is merely quirky, which is not the same thing as funny. Jared Hess’ pop culture phenomenon does feature some highly original characters and situations, but his execution of these elements is obvious and uninteresting. “Gosh!” is neither a good punchline nor a good catchphrase. 2. The Blair Witch Project (Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez; 1999 Sundance premiere) It must be appreciated as much as attacked for its groundbreaking marketing campaign, and in many ways the film itself can be acknowledged for having a terrific premise with an almost perfect realization of that idea. But for the most part, The Blair Witch Project is a basic, amateur and poorly concluded effort that turned the appeal of indie simplicity on its head. Almost a decade earlier, when filmmakers saw Slacker and said “I can do that,” they were mostly mistaken. But The Blair Witch allowed every schmo with a digital camera to declare, “I can do that,” and be relatively correct in his or her statement. It’s okay for indie filmmaking to seem easy, but when it really is that easy, it degrades the truly talented. 1. Boxing Helena (Jennifer Lynch; 1993 Sundance premiere) Cult appeal notwithstanding, Boxing Helena was one of the first really awful movies to be up for Sundance’s Grand Jury Prize. And although in the 17 years since, the festival has been easily criticized for allowing bad films with lots of buzz and/or big name talent to be included in competition, no film has been as unworthy as this. Had it starred original choice Madonna in the part of the titular amputee, Boxing Helena might have really deserved to at least become a midnight movie. However, with its lesser-name casting, it’s barely even good enough for Skinamax programming. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog
]]>Tue, 13 Jan 2009 22:01:36 GMTSpoutBlogSpoutBlog on spout.com1/13/2009 5:01:36 PMGetting ready for the Sundance Film Festival can be very exciting. As we await the event’s Thursday opening, we can’t stop wondering what will be the next big thing. Will this year’s hit be the highly-anticipated Michael Cera project Paper Hearts, or will it be something that we as of yet know nothing about? It’s easy to forget, however, that oftentimes the next big thing is also the next lamest thing. Sundance sensations, those films that are much-buzzed-about, that sell for a lot of money, that go on to be marketed like crazy and ultimately receive Oscar recognition, tend to lend themselves most easily to backlashes. Usually such derision is deserved, as in the case of the following ten films, each of which made a big splash at Sundance despite being bad. 10. Brick (Rian Johnson; 2005 Sundance premiere) When Blade Runner was first released, critics attacked its novelty of combining film noir with science fiction. Yet when Brick arrived in Park City, its similar genre-bending mix of film noir and teen films was welcomed as the most original film in years. In both circumstances, critics were wrong, and while Blade Runner ultimately became a classic, Brick is retrospectively even sillier now than it was when it won a Special Jury Prize “for originality of vision” four years ago. Yes, the film is a fresh idea in theory, but it doesn’t really work on screen, no matter how much you want it to or think it does. It’s simply a novelty gag for film geeks who love noir — while not quite as enjoyable for fans of the teen genre. Is there really anyone who wouldn’t just rather watch a double feature of The Big Sleep and Heathers? 9. Little Miss Sunshine (Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris; 2006 Sundance premiere) Never mind its impact on the culture of Sundance. The annoying “what will be the next Little Miss Sunshine?” idea was just a substitute for similar questions going back as far as 1990 (“what will be the next sex, lies, and videotape?”). The real problem with LMS is that it’s a decent dysfunctional family comedy that falls apart in the third act. On the positive side, it finally got Alan Arkin an Oscar. But on the more glaring negative side, it also got Abigail Breslin an Oscar nomination. Hardly worthy, also, of its Best Picture nod or its Best Original Screenplay win, the film’s success is the product of a terrific marketing team and moviegoers’ acceptance of cheesy endings — and has nothing to do with the quality of the film. 8. The Brothers McMullen (Edward Burns; 1995 Sundance premiere) While the name Fox Searchlight is now synonymous with marketing the hell out of “indie” sensations like Little Miss Sunshine, Juno and Slumdog Millionaire, the specialty division has been overdoing it with unworthy films since the very first Sundance hit they distributed. The Brothers McMullen is not necessarily a bad film, but it isn’t anything special either. Some say the 1995 fest was the downward turning point for Sundance, whether because it showed us a major “sellout” who wasn’t actually as good as he’d been celebrated as being (Kevin Smith, who disappointed with his sophomore effort, Mallrats) or because a lackluster picture like McMullen won the Grand Jury Prize. And like Smith, Edward Burns ultimately revealed himself to be something of an embarrassment, talent-wise, to the reputation of Sundance alums. 7. Garden State (Zach Braff; 2004 Sundance premiere) 2004 was the year that indie quirkiness got out of hand at Sundance (see #3). Sure, Garden State got us all into The Shins, but it also got filmmakers too into a genre I call “homecoming of age” movies, those banal stories about twenty- and thirty- somethings who revisit their homes due to a dying or dead parent and involve themselves with wacky townies in the process. Any idiot can write a script of this type and fill it with quirky scenery and an obnoxious yet adorable love interest. Sundance must still be getting countless submissions of this kind of film, but unfortunately for the rest of the world’s idiot filmmakers, they aren’t TV stars like Zach Braff. 6. SherryBaby (Laurie Collyer; 2006 Sundance premiere) Sundance has long been a haven for depressing films involving junkies and/or incest, but few have been as overrated as SherryBaby. Once again, it’s all about the star power, as the film might not have been so hyped had Maggie Gyllenhaal not been in the lead. Then again, it might have actually been a better film without her. Grandly over-praised for her performance as the easily played rehabilitating mom, the actress got undeserved kudos simply for being raw and despicable. Her Oscar snub was a relief, at least. 5. Born Into Brothels (Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman; 2004 Sundance premiere) It may have won the documentary Audience Award at Sundance and the documentary Oscar a year later, but that doesn’t excuse Born Into Brothels from being a disgrace to nonfiction filmmaking. One of the most self-satisfying docs ever made, the film will forever be marked by its footage of co-director Zana Briski figuratively patting herself on the back during a fundraiser, with which she sinfully seeks sainthood for involving herself in the lives of her film’s subjects. If documentary was synonymous with charity, Born Into Brothels would indeed be a great film, but documentaries like this should merely be an inspiration to charity, not charity itself. 4. Masked and Anonymous (Larry Charles; 2003 Sundance premiere) One of the most anticipated films of the 2003 festival due to a script co-written by Bob Dylan and an unbelievable cast including Dylan, Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Penelope Cruz, Ed Harris, Luke Wilson, Mickey Rourke, Angela Bassett, Jessica Lange and many other big names, the very messy Masked and Anonymous therefore ended up the biggest disappointment of that year. Its worth was later defended and praised by such critics as Jonathan Rosenbaum, who included it in his 2003 Top Ten list, and Salon.com’s Stephanie Zacharek. But most of us are in agreement that it’s one of the biggest wastes of talent in years. 3. Napoleon Dynamite (Jared Hess; 2004 Sundance premiere) Napoleon Dynamite’s inclusion on this list is likely to upset more people than Brick’s, but at least the Brick devotees can defend their fandom with more than just shouts of “It’s funny!” Because the thing is, Napoleon Dynamite is not comedy. It is merely quirky, which is not the same thing as funny. Jared Hess’ pop culture phenomenon does feature some highly original characters and situations, but his execution of these elements is obvious and uninteresting. “Gosh!” is neither a good punchline nor a good catchphrase. 2. The Blair Witch Project (Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez; 1999 Sundance premiere) It must be appreciated as much as attacked for its groundbreaking marketing campaign, and in many ways the film itself can be acknowledged for having a terrific premise with an almost perfect realization of that idea. But for the most part, The Blair Witch Project is a basic, amateur and poorly concluded effort that turned the appeal of indie simplicity on its head. Almost a decade earlier, when filmmakers saw Slacker and said “I can do that,” they were mostly mistaken. But The Blair Witch allowed every schmo with a digital camera to declare, “I can do that,” and be relatively correct in his or her statement. It’s okay for indie filmmaking to seem easy, but when it really is that easy, it degrades the truly talented. 1. Boxing Helena (Jennifer Lynch; 1993 Sundance premiere) Cult appeal notwithstanding, Boxing Helena was one of the first really awful movies to be up for Sundance’s Grand Jury Prize. And although in the 17 years since, the festival has been easily criticized for allowing bad films with lots of buzz and/or big name talent to be included in competition, no film has been as unworthy as this. Had it starred original choice Madonna in the part of the titular amputee, Boxing Helena might have really deserved to at least become a midnight movie. However, with its lesser-name casting, it’s barely even good enough for Skinamax programming. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog http://www.spout.com/blogs/tenenbaums/archive/2007/12/2/22451.aspx Post By: Tenenbaums
Post To: Tenenbaums Blog
Post Date: 12/2/2007 1:27:40 AM
Body: Bob Dylan has led an eventful life. He’s redefined the protest song, influenced the Beatles, found God, and won an Oscar. The nation’s reigning poet laureate continues to make great music and tour nearly 50 years after his rise to the top of the folk scene. His story is legendary and inspiring. But is it cinematic?The real-life Dylan is. D.A. Pennebaker’s Don’t Look Back and Martin Scorsese’s No Direction Home are towering documentaries chronicling the 1965 British tour and Dylan’s life up until his motorcycle wreck, respectively. That Dylan is charming, mysterious, and inspiring. He is as close to a musical superhero as anyone has come, including Elvis.But what about the fictional Dylan? Being a natural storyteller, Dylan seemed fit as any to explore himself on a deeper level. For someone who has successfully dodged the press’ attempts to explain his entire being, surely the man himself could provide the best insight.Unfortunately, existing evidence suggests that he cannot. The role-playing portion of his Renaldo and Clara is widely considered a failure. Then there is the shameful vanity project, Masked and Anonymous. Co-written with director Larry Charles, under the not-so-clever pseudonym Sergei Petrov, Dylan plays a version of himself called Jack Fate. Set against a war-torn future America that resembles Havana meshed with the Bronx, the all-star casts speaks incoherent “poetry” while Dylan poker faces through and endless series of meaningless scenes.The film is intended to play out like one of Dylan’s more complex songs, such as “Gates of Eden” or “Desolation Row.” Instead, it is reminiscent of a Dylan version of a Bad Hemingway contest, except it’s written by Dylan.Dylan told Charles not to worry about initial response to the film but to wait for the long-term appreciation. Unless there is a second film decodable with 3-D glasses and playing the audio backwards, that day will never come. Only the most insane Dylan disciples, bereft with multiple mental illnesses, will be able to find value in the effort. The only sliver of redemption is Dylan’s cover of “Dixie,” and it can thankfully be viewed on YouTube, far from the rest of the failure.Only when Dylan himself isn’t involved in the abstraction does the end result work. I’m Not There, the new film from Todd Haynes, is “inspired by the music and many lives of Bob Dylan” and works hard to combine the fantastic and the real. Haynes breaks Dylan’s life into six vignettes played by six different people. The concept is ambitious, but entirely sensible as each distinct chapter is true to its respective Dylan reinvention.There’s a 10-year-old black boy full of tall tales who thinks he’s Woody Guthrie (Marcus Carl Franklin); a young 20something Greenwich Village folk music phenomenon named Jack Rollins (Christian Bale); a poet calling himself Arthur Rimbaud who is under some sort of government subcommittee interrogation (Ben Whishaw); a famous actor who portrayed Rollins in a corny biopic, now witnessing his marriage fall apart (Heath Ledger, whose character Robbie Clark’s personality may have split from or become bonded to the folk hero’s during filming); Jude Quinn, a former folk star, fresh off bewildering his listeners by going electric, on a media-frenzied tour of England (Cate Blanchett); and a middle-aged Billy the Kid, who evaded death and now lives in careful seclusion (Richard Gere). None of them are Dylan, yet they could be no one else.In many moments, the film drags and ventures into Lynchian depths of artistic drudgery. But when it soars, it reaches seemingly unparalleled heights, thanks to the music and personal connections with Dylan lore. Similar to previous experimental Dylan explorations, it is an immense help to know the legend. Fortunately, for the undefined audience of Haynes’ film, the tidbits here are much more accessible: visits to a dying Woody Guthrie in his New Jersey hospital room; Newport Folk Festival lore coming alive as a Pete Seeger stand-in attempts to slice the electric guitars’ power source with an axe; disillusioned festival onlookers precisely quoting Don’t Look Back‘s equally mystified British youth; Quinn passing along his uppers and downers to the Beatles; and the Rolling Thunder Revue inspired landscape of the Gere scenes and his Basement Tapes era Billy.By being aware of the scattered facts we can be in on the joke, and yet it is our supposed knowledge that is being toyed with throughout the film. We don’t know Dylan. We’ve never really known him and that’s how things should be. The same message should also be applied to each viewer: Do we want all of our moves to be scrutinized by the public? How silly can “celebrity” be? How can every man find peace and happiness in the face of constant scrutiny? In the end, the music is the star. Let the man be.Fellini’s self-reflexivity and personal criticism of 8 1/2 is constant throughout the film and receives an exclamation point with a balloon-like Quinn threatening to fly away if not for a rope around his ankle. But it’s Haynes, not Dylan, who makes these private pronouncements on behalf of the artist, adding another curious level to I’m Not There’s mystery. The writer-director has immersed himself in Dylanology, but combines the knowledge with his film-smarts to make the piece work. It takes a real filmmaker like Haynes to do it right and Dylan’s necessary absence lends deeper meaning to the project’s title and success.And yet he is there, if only in spirit and recorded sound. But what a strong, strange presence it is! As a result, the known Dylans connect quickest. Franklin’s Woody encompasses the unbelievable stories Dylan told after his arrival in New York City; Bale’s Rollins perfectly mimes the young Dylan, slowly bouncing with sincerity while singing for justice and equality for all; Whishaw’s quasi-narrator streams familiar quips in defense of himself and his art; and Blanchett plays “Ballad of a Thin Man” with the identical head nods and floppy piano wrists from the famous ’65 footage while confounding reporters to our delight in other scenes.The unknown Dylans (beginning chronologically with Ledger) are the most difficult to follow, yet they encompass his most painful elements. These fractions are a man picking up the pieces from the press’ strangulation and a horrific motorcycle wreck. Temporary hermitage may have helped, but the problems are too large to easily repair. One potential path to healing is religion, and Bale’s reborn Pastor John perfectly hyperbolizes the evangelical Dylan, one of the artist’s most confusing and complex periods. When he sings “Pressing On” to a small rec-room congregation, the pain is all but absent and his faith and joy resonate.Then there are the Gere scenes, the film’s most cryptic, though also deserving of more time. The Rolling Thunder Revue period is a fascinating Dylan tangent of circus, troubadours, whiteface, and collaboration. The setting is there, complete with giraffes and sideshow attractions, but the experiences are not. The closest we get is Jim James, the My Morning Jacket lead singer, dressed in RTR Dylan garb and singing “Goin’ to Acapulco” for a funeral wake. The reclusive Dylan clearly chose to hide here, but the excursion was far too brief and mysterious. Perhaps that’s how it should be. Only Dylan knows, but Haynes convinces us that he too is privy to that knowledge.I’m Not There is a wandering, magical meditation on the most influential musician of our time and will require multiple views to process its plentiful messages. It may be the most intelligent musical ever made and the layered ambiguity in which it is presented finally accomplishes what Dylan himself has yet to do.
]]>Sun, 02 Dec 2007 06:27:40 GMTTenenbaumsTenenbaums Blog12/2/2007 1:27:40 AMBob Dylan has led an eventful life. He&rsquo;s redefined the protest song, influenced the Beatles, found God, and won an Oscar. The nation&rsquo;s reigning poet laureate continues to make great music and tour nearly 50 years after his rise to the top of the folk scene. His story is legendary and inspiring. But is it cinematic?The real-life Dylan is. D.A. Pennebaker&rsquo;s Don&rsquo;t Look Back and Martin Scorsese&rsquo;s No Direction Home are towering documentaries chronicling the 1965 British tour and Dylan&rsquo;s life up until his motorcycle wreck, respectively. That Dylan is charming, mysterious, and inspiring. He is as close to a musical superhero as anyone has come, including Elvis.But what about the fictional Dylan? Being a natural storyteller, Dylan seemed fit as any to explore himself on a deeper level. For someone who has successfully dodged the press&rsquo; attempts to explain his entire being, surely the man himself could provide the best insight.Unfortunately, existing evidence suggests that he cannot. The role-playing portion of his Renaldo and Clara is widely considered a failure. Then there is the shameful vanity project, Masked and Anonymous. Co-written with director Larry Charles, under the not-so-clever pseudonym Sergei Petrov, Dylan plays a version of himself called Jack Fate. Set against a war-torn future America that resembles Havana meshed with the Bronx, the all-star casts speaks incoherent &ldquo;poetry&rdquo; while Dylan poker faces through and endless series of meaningless scenes.The film is intended to play out like one of Dylan&rsquo;s more complex songs, such as &ldquo;Gates of Eden&rdquo; or &ldquo;Desolation Row.&rdquo; Instead, it is reminiscent of a Dylan version of a Bad Hemingway contest, except it&rsquo;s written by Dylan.Dylan told Charles not to worry about initial response to the film but to wait for the long-term appreciation. Unless there is a second film decodable with 3-D glasses and playing the audio backwards, that day will never come. Only the most insane Dylan disciples, bereft with multiple mental illnesses, will be able to find value in the effort. The only sliver of redemption is Dylan&rsquo;s cover of &ldquo;Dixie,&rdquo; and it can thankfully be viewed on YouTube, far from the rest of the failure.Only when Dylan himself isn&rsquo;t involved in the abstraction does the end result work. I&rsquo;m Not There, the new film from Todd Haynes, is &ldquo;inspired by the music and many lives of Bob Dylan&rdquo; and works hard to combine the fantastic and the real. Haynes breaks Dylan&rsquo;s life into six vignettes played by six different people. The concept is ambitious, but entirely sensible as each distinct chapter is true to its respective Dylan reinvention.There&rsquo;s a 10-year-old black boy full of tall tales who thinks he&rsquo;s Woody Guthrie (Marcus Carl Franklin); a young 20something Greenwich Village folk music phenomenon named Jack Rollins (Christian Bale); a poet calling himself Arthur Rimbaud who is under some sort of government subcommittee interrogation (Ben Whishaw); a famous actor who portrayed Rollins in a corny biopic, now witnessing his marriage fall apart (Heath Ledger, whose character Robbie Clark&rsquo;s personality may have split from or become bonded to the folk hero&rsquo;s during filming); Jude Quinn, a former folk star, fresh off bewildering his listeners by going electric, on a media-frenzied tour of England (Cate Blanchett); and a middle-aged Billy the Kid, who evaded death and now lives in careful seclusion (Richard Gere). None of them are Dylan, yet they could be no one else.In many moments, the film drags and ventures into Lynchian depths of artistic drudgery. But when it soars, it reaches seemingly unparalleled heights, thanks to the music and personal connections with Dylan lore. Similar to previous experimental Dylan explorations, it is an immense help to know the legend. Fortunately, for the undefined audience of Haynes&rsquo; film, the tidbits here are much more accessible: visits to a dying Woody Guthrie in his New Jersey hospital room; Newport Folk Festival lore coming alive as a Pete Seeger stand-in attempts to slice the electric guitars&rsquo; power source with an axe; disillusioned festival onlookers precisely quoting Don&rsquo;t Look Back&lsquo;s equally mystified British youth; Quinn passing along his uppers and downers to the Beatles; and the Rolling Thunder Revue inspired landscape of the Gere scenes and his Basement Tapes era Billy.By being aware of the scattered facts we can be in on the joke, and yet it is our supposed knowledge that is being toyed with throughout the film. We don&rsquo;t know Dylan. We&rsquo;ve never really known him and that&rsquo;s how things should be. The same message should also be applied to each viewer: Do we want all of our moves to be scrutinized by the public? How silly can &ldquo;celebrity&rdquo; be? How can every man find peace and happiness in the face of constant scrutiny? In the end, the music is the star. Let the man be.Fellini&rsquo;s self-reflexivity and personal criticism of 8 1/2 is constant throughout the film and receives an exclamation point with a balloon-like Quinn threatening to fly away if not for a rope around his ankle. But it&rsquo;s Haynes, not Dylan, who makes these private pronouncements on behalf of the artist, adding another curious level to I&rsquo;m Not There&rsquo;s mystery. The writer-director has immersed himself in Dylanology, but combines the knowledge with his film-smarts to make the piece work. It takes a real filmmaker like Haynes to do it right and Dylan&rsquo;s necessary absence lends deeper meaning to the project&rsquo;s title and success.And yet he is there, if only in spirit and recorded sound. But what a strong, strange presence it is! As a result, the known Dylans connect quickest. Franklin&rsquo;s Woody encompasses the unbelievable stories Dylan told after his arrival in New York City; Bale&rsquo;s Rollins perfectly mimes the young Dylan, slowly bouncing with sincerity while singing for justice and equality for all; Whishaw&rsquo;s quasi-narrator streams familiar quips in defense of himself and his art; and Blanchett plays &ldquo;Ballad of a Thin Man&rdquo; with the identical head nods and floppy piano wrists from the famous &rsquo;65 footage while confounding reporters to our delight in other scenes.The unknown Dylans (beginning chronologically with Ledger) are the most difficult to follow, yet they encompass his most painful elements. These fractions are a man picking up the pieces from the press&rsquo; strangulation and a horrific motorcycle wreck. Temporary hermitage may have helped, but the problems are too large to easily repair. One potential path to healing is religion, and Bale&rsquo;s reborn Pastor John perfectly hyperbolizes the evangelical Dylan, one of the artist&rsquo;s most confusing and complex periods. When he sings &ldquo;Pressing On&rdquo; to a small rec-room congregation, the pain is all but absent and his faith and joy resonate.Then there are the Gere scenes, the film&rsquo;s most cryptic, though also deserving of more time. The Rolling Thunder Revue period is a fascinating Dylan tangent of circus, troubadours, whiteface, and collaboration. The setting is there, complete with giraffes and sideshow attractions, but the experiences are not. The closest we get is Jim James, the My Morning Jacket lead singer, dressed in RTR Dylan garb and singing &ldquo;Goin&rsquo; to Acapulco&rdquo; for a funeral wake. The reclusive Dylan clearly chose to hide here, but the excursion was far too brief and mysterious. Perhaps that&rsquo;s how it should be. Only Dylan knows, but Haynes convinces us that he too is privy to that knowledge.I&rsquo;m Not There is a wandering, magical meditation on the most influential musician of our time and will require multiple views to process its plentiful messages. It may be the most intelligent musical ever made and the layered ambiguity in which it is presented finally accomplishes what Dylan himself has yet to do. http://www.spout.com/blogs/moviebabe/archive/2007/7/3/12999.aspx Post By: MovieBabe
Post To: MovieBabe Blog
Post Date: 7/3/2007 6:42:00 PM
Body: By Tricia Olszewski Anyone who's read one of those interminable Bob Dylan interviews and felt closer to God will delight in Masked and Anonymous. The film, scripted by the legendary songwriter along with Seinfeld veteran Larry Charles, is another example of how, when freed from musical constraints, Bob Dylan, Genius, often mutates into Bob Dylan, Blowhard. A bleak mood piece that takes place in a war-torn "fictional America"—though everyone speaks English, the feel is more South America than North—Masked and Anonymous at least leaves the gate respectably, telling the story of two promoters, Uncle Sweetheart (John Goodman) and Nina Veronica (Jessica Lange), who are desperate for a headliner to rescue a poorly planned benefit concert. It's never stated whom the benefit is for, but it's clear that the political climate is explosive: Posters of a mustachioed, Hussein-like leader cover the gritty streets, counterrevolutionaries are afoot, and our slight hero, Jack Fate (Dylan), has to be sprung from jail to play the show. But once we're introduced to the full slate of co-stars—including Jeff Bridges, Penélope Cruz, Luke Wilson, Val Kilmer, Cheech Marin, Chris Penn, Ed Harris, Angela Bassett, Giovanni Ribisi, and Mickey Rourke—all semblance of narrative disappears, and the movie descends into a speechifying circus. There's lots of talk about seeking truth, finding happiness, and how gosh-darn difficult all this life business is anyway. Watching is akin to sitting in a bar with a bunch of drunken gasbags: Everyone's angry, and everyone knows better than you. As Fate, Dylan mostly stands around with his 10-gallon hat and pencil 'stache, taking it all in with his purportedly wise eyes. Every once in a while he'll join in the bullslinging with such solemn tripe as "Ever heard of cellulose? Cows can digest it, but you can't—and neither can I." Better to get thee to a Dylan collection: The handful of times that he plays, whether "Dixie" or one of his own, are instant reminders of how you get the star power required to make a vanity project this fantastically disastrous.
]]>Tue, 03 Jul 2007 22:42:00 GMTMovieBabeMovieBabe Blog7/3/2007 6:42:00 PM By Tricia Olszewski Anyone who's read one of those interminable Bob Dylan interviews and felt closer to God will delight in Masked and Anonymous. The film, scripted by the legendary songwriter along with Seinfeld veteran Larry Charles, is another example of how, when freed from musical constraints, Bob Dylan, Genius, often mutates into Bob Dylan, Blowhard. A bleak mood piece that takes place in a war-torn "fictional America"&mdash;though everyone speaks English, the feel is more South America than North&mdash;Masked and Anonymous at least leaves the gate respectably, telling the story of two promoters, Uncle Sweetheart (John Goodman) and Nina Veronica (Jessica Lange), who are desperate for a headliner to rescue a poorly planned benefit concert. It's never stated whom the benefit is for, but it's clear that the political climate is explosive: Posters of a mustachioed, Hussein-like leader cover the gritty streets, counterrevolutionaries are afoot, and our slight hero, Jack Fate (Dylan), has to be sprung from jail to play the show. But once we're introduced to the full slate of co-stars&mdash;including Jeff Bridges, Pen&eacute;lope Cruz, Luke Wilson, Val Kilmer, Cheech Marin, Chris Penn, Ed Harris, Angela Bassett, Giovanni Ribisi, and Mickey Rourke&mdash;all semblance of narrative disappears, and the movie descends into a speechifying circus. There's lots of talk about seeking truth, finding happiness, and how gosh-darn difficult all this life business is anyway. Watching is akin to sitting in a bar with a bunch of drunken gasbags: Everyone's angry, and everyone knows better than you. As Fate, Dylan mostly stands around with his 10-gallon hat and pencil 'stache, taking it all in with his purportedly wise eyes. Every once in a while he'll join in the bullslinging with such solemn tripe as "Ever heard of cellulose? Cows can digest it, but you can't&mdash;and neither can I." Better to get thee to a Dylan collection: The handful of times that he plays, whether "Dixie" or one of his own, are instant reminders of how you get the star power required to make a vanity project this fantastically disastrous. http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/concert/MemberTagFilms.aspxconcert
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