What must I'm Not There (2007) do to succeed? Scriptwriter and director Todd Haynes decided he wanted to portray the enigmatic Bob Dylan by six different characters in six different stories. Given that start, what are the one or two crucial things the film must accomplish in order to succeed? In spite of what some critics have said, it is not enough to have Cate Blanchett play a man; nor is it enough to be about Bob Dylan; nor is it enough to give us a glimpse into Haynes obsession with pop culture; not is it enough to have wonderful cinematography; nor is it enough to have some big name actors doing good work.
To succeed, the film must do at least two crucial things. First, it must be, somehow, unified. Maybe by theme, maybe by voice-over commentary, maybe by symbolism. There is no great talent or benefit in making a disjointed biography about a disjointed person. Yet that is exactly what I’m Not There does. Here is how the film goes.
A young black boy sings and says he is Woody Guthrie.
An angry protest singer performs in Greenwich Village.
A budding movie star and his wife separate when his hedonistic lifestyle clashes with raising a family.
An Arthur Rimbaud-like character gives enigmatic testimony at some kind of a trial.
A hedonistic, aloof rock star insults people and takes too many drugs.
Billy the Kid confronts Pat Garrett and, despite his best efforts, loses his dog.
Well, what do you think? Gripping? Entertaining? Rossiter Drake of the San Francisco Examiner says perspicaciously, “I’m Not There is abstract expressionism, paying tribute to its hero in a fashion every bit as enigmatic and chameleon-like as the man himself.” As James Berardinelli says, it is a “film without form.”
To succeed, the film must also enlighten, it must offer something that Dylan biographies and documentaries do not. At the end of I’m Not There, a Dylan figure says, “I don’t know who I am most of the time.” Unfortunately, we don’t know who he is either. An interesting idea flickers: You gain freedom through multiple personas. But each persona has a lot of trouble, so it is not clear in the film that you gain more than you lose by reinventing yourself.