I'm Not There (Todd Haynes, 2007)

[domino harvey]

It looks like Harvey Weinstein released this on 130 screens today. I have to say I'm pretty impressed about how they are marketing and releasing this film.

So, 130 screens, doesn't that mean Barmy has to like eat his shoe or something?

He can eat whatever he wants anywhere he wants, so long as it's not here. So long li'l fella!

[tavernier]

I guess Barmy must be gone, since he hasn't posted since October 25.

Maybe he joined Obama's campaign.

[tavernier]

Armond, uh, doesn't like it much:

[quote]When Bob Dylan was asked what the name Alias meant, while portraying a Western runt in Sam Peckinpah's 1973 Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, he roguishly improvised: “Alias anything you please.â€

[ogygia avenue]

I have to say, it was a great film. There's probably a few flaws and missteps here and there, but I find this to be one of those films whose accomplishments and sheer ambition seem to make up for them.

I fully concur. Seeing it made me proud to be a filmmaker, but I also found Haynes's vision humbling.

I have to say, however, I'm quite suprised at those who say they felt the Richard Gere part was the most successful. If any segments felt out of place, its this one

I could see what he was going for, got the references, etc., but it did seem a bit out of place. It was nice to see Gere meet Woody, and it would have been interesting had Haynes done more with the different iterations of Dylan meeting one another.

[gubbelsj]

For what it's worth from this old Dylan fan, I found the Gere sequence involving the funeral of the little girl and the singing of "Going to Acapulco" to be the most moving section of the whole film, bringing tears to my eyes in a semi-crowded theater in the Kensington neighborhood of San Diego. Perhaps this was solely due to the fact that "Acapulco" has long been one of my favorite Dylan songs - an aching lament, sung in a voice he never returned to. But there was a logical thread drawn between the Dylan who retreated to the rural safety of the Catskills to huddle with The Band in the basement and Gere & Co.'s faux-ancient town of Riddle. The entire section seemed both an effective elegy to an old America (perhaps The Old, Weird America, per Greil Marcus) and a reminder that such a time never existed. It's a remarkable film, and a remarkable sequence, in my opinion.

[Dylan]

I'm about to set the Fellini love in me free to roam for a moment: why haven't the Fellini fans on here commented about the Cate Blanchett sequence? Or, why hasn't anybody written about its parallels and references to Fellini's work? I believe universe Haynes builds for the persona "Jude" is essentially the first head-on love letter to Federico Fellini's cinema since Stardust Memories. This is incredibly and brilliantly apt, as Bob Dylan was a huge fan of Fellini, and I believe he commented once that if there were ever to be a film made about his life that he'd want Fellini to direct it.

[Michael Kerpan]

I agree (to some extent) with grumpy Armond White (with whom I may never have agreed before). White's hostility actually made me determined to like the film -- but by the mid-point, I had decided it just wwasn't doing much for me (but causing a mild degree of irritation). I see this as little more than a set of technically interesting stunts. It had nothing interesting to say about Dylan (at least to me).

My wife totally disagrees with my opinion. ;~}

[David Ehrenstein]

Have your wife post in here.

Armond White is indeed terminally grumpy, and it would have shocked me if he liked this film.

I'm as big a Fellini fan as I am a Todd fan, so I has in Heaven.

8 1/2 is recalled in several ways. There's the cutting and camera movement, and the giant curved white chair.

[Michael Kerpan]

Have your wife post in here.

She doesn't do online stuff. ;~}

I'm as big a Fellini fan as I am a Todd fan, so I has in Heaven..

I thought I noticed _lots_ of Fellini-isms in this -- which (for me) was _not_ a good thing (as I am pretty allergic).

Kitano engages in a few dashes of Fellini in his new (mostly critically kicked around) "Hail to the Filmmaker" -- a film I liked a lot more than "I'm Not There" (not saying HttF is "better", but I sure enjoyed it a lot more).

[colinr0380]

An episode of the Speakeasy with Dorian (26th November) talking with Jim Dunbar.

[pemmican]

Goldenpilgrim -

Oh, was that really Moondog? I thought it was an actor gotten up to evoke Harry Smith in full costume - a nice conceit to casually throw in. (Not that the two are mutually exclusive; maybe it was Moondog AS Harry Smith. Or does Moondog usually dress that way?).

Great film, even if it taxed me a bit (it's a lot to take in; I was exhausted by it); also loved the "Going to Acapulco" performance, which seemed the high point, and liked the way the Gere sequences subtly evoked Peckinpah (I thought -- nice that Kris Kristofferson opens the film's narration --).

P.

[David Ehrenstein]

Moondog always dressed that way.

[GoldenPilgrim]

Oh, was that really Moondog? I thought it was an actor gotten up to evoke Harry Smith in full costume - a nice conceit to casually throw in. (Not that the two are mutually exclusive; maybe it was Moondog AS Harry Smith. Or does Moondog usually dress that way?).

Great film, even if it taxed me a bit (it's a lot to take in; I was exhausted by it); also loved the "Going to Acapulco" performance, which seemed the high point, and liked the way the Gere sequences subtly evoked Peckinpah (I thought -- nice that Kris Kristofferson opens the film's narration --).

Yeah! Well it wasn't actually Moondog himself (if that's what you meant) but it had to be a Moondog character, viking horns, huge grey beard, street musician.

It seems like almost everyone's favorite sections were either the Guthrie or the Gere ones. Like I said before, the Gere section is was my favorite too, Fellini/"Old Weird America"/Wisconsin Death Trip/Jim James/Calexico, it's everything I want to see on the big screen

[David Ehrenstein]

Being that I grew up in new York in the 1950s', Moondog was iconic figure for me. He stood on 6th Ave. on the site of what eventually became the CBS building for YEARS. He would hand out his "Thor the Nordoom" pamphlets to anyone who would stop and ask. And every Blue Moon he would sing.

New Yorkers loved him, and were as protective of him as they were of Garbo -- whose sightings were a special treasure for everyone.

[GoldenPilgrim]

Being that I grew up in new York in the 1950s', Moondog was iconic figure for me. He stood on 6th Ave. on the site of what eventually became the CBS building for YEARS. He would hand out his "Thor the Nordoom" pamphlets to anyone who would stop and ask. And every Blue Moon he would sing.

New Yorkers loved him, and were as protective of him as they were of Garbo -- whose sightings were a special treasure for everyone.

That's so great. Considering I grew up in southern California in the late 80's/90's, I'm Not There got me closer to Moondog than I've ever been able to.

[David Ehrenstein]

He made a number of recordings you know. I'm sure they're easy to find.

[Cold Bishop]

He made a number of recordings you know. I'm sure they're easy to find.

I'd imagine he would if he knew about him in the first place. If not, or if anyone else here doesn't know, his self-titled 1969 album is essential.

[Magic Hate Ball]

This is the closest I've ever seen to seeing a Fellini/Godard film on the big screen, and wanted to see more of Cate Blanchette's character. A little over-long, and too many false endings; then again, I had to pee really bad.

[Antoine Doinel]

Saw this today and I greatly admired not only Haynes' ambition, but that he was able to mostly execute with great panache. The only problem I had (and this bothered my girlfriend's enjoyment of the film far more than it did me) is that the film is largely a cerebral exercise, but oddly there is no emotion to it. I understand that Haynes went out of his way to show that there is no easy way to "understand" Dylan in any traditional sense, but for me, the music became passionless in the film. There was no sense of the emotional potency (except for when Dylan goes electric) that his music had. I'm not even a Dylan fan, and have a cursory understanding of the important events in his life and career, but I felt this was a glaring error.

That said, the performances were great and there were so many inspired moments that it pleasure unwrapping it all and still not finding the center.

[David Ehrenstein]

Well the simple fact of the matter is that Todd is a cerebral filmmaker. Even when he's dealing emotion as his very subject in Far From Heaven, it's in a highly intellectual context.

Tis in turn brigns up the canard that emotion and intellect are separate entities. Because Todd isn't gushing all over the mise en scene a la Spielberg you claim his film has no "center." I disagree. it's there -- but not in the expected place(s).

[GringoTex]

Tis in turn brigns up the canard that emotion and intellect are separate entities. Because Todd isn't gushing all over the mise en scene a la Spielberg you claim his film has no "center." I disagree. it's there -- but not in the expected place(s).

Haynes got his gushing out of the way in Superstar. He outSpielberged Spielberg using dolls.

[NABOB OF NOWHERE]

Moondog always dressed that way.

I haven't seen the clip of Moondog from the film but it has prompted me to ask members on the forum if they could possibly come up with any other suggestions and sources for footage of Moondog (Louis Hardin).
Shortly before he died I did a 2 hour filmed interview with him (on 16mm B&W) shot in St.Giles Cripplegate, where Louis was happy to be in the company of the late John Milton. This has languished for years in my cellar due to a lack of interest amongst UK based TV commissioning editors and producers to give even the mere dribbles of finance to go further with it. As a taster I made some little quick time edits cutting in footage from Chappaqua which is the only other visual source featuring him on the streets of New York that I can readily find. (I also got some animation done in the style of the period to accompany some of his music and added some generic period street stuff cannibalised from other TV sources).
When I was in New York a few years back I got in touch with Anthology Film Archives and visted their office hoping for a lead possibly with their knowledge about people like Rudy Burckhardt et al but am sad to say found then singularly unhelpful/uninterested.

I know that stills by Weegee exist, attested to by the cover art on the Viking of Sixth Avenue cd Anthology from Honest John but if anyone give us a pointer to any other sources I'd be very obliged.

[Antoine Doinel]

Well the simple fact of the matter is that Todd is a cerebral filmmaker. Even when he's dealing emotion as his very subject in Far From Heaven, it's in a highly intellectual context.

Tis in turn brigns up the canard that emotion and intellect are separate entities. Because Todd isn't gushing all over the mise en scene a la Spielberg you claim his film has no "center." I disagree. it's there -- but not in the expected place(s).

I'm not saying that I'm Not There is completely emotionless, but it seems so involved by its formal exercise, that everything else is secondary. I had the same problem with Far From Heaven but in that case disliked the film far more because of it. That said, I do think that there is much to admire about I'm Not There, but for me, the things that bother me about the film mark the distinction between it being a film I admire, and a film I care about.

[David Ehrenstein]

I wish I could help you with Moondog, but if no one from Anthology is interested I don't know what to say.

Try getting in touch with Julie Andrews. She made a record with him once many years ago.

No, I'm not kidding.

[justeleblanc]

Isn't one able to have a strong identification not just to the themes in the film but also the way in which they are delivered, without having to rely on an emotional attachment to a character in order for it to have an impact? I agree that Haynes's films can be a bit cold emotionally, but judging his films in terms of this completely misses the point and would be as absurd as analyzing the color in a Rivette film.

Also, the emotional play in Superstar is a pastiche of the over the top melodrama in a soap opera/after school special genre. If you were moved by the melodrama, you aren't in the wrong, but I think you'd be misreading the film to say he used sentiment for the sake of manipulation.