I'm Not There | Rotten Tomatoes

I'm Not There

R

Released Nov 21, 2007

2 hr. 15 min.

Biography

Drama

List

77%

162 Reviews

Tomatometer

69%

100,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

Several actors portray legendary singer-songwriter Bob Dylan at different stages in his personal life and career. In 1959 a guitar-strumming youth (Marcus Carl Franklin) rides the rails, calling himself "Guthrie." Then a man named Jack (Christian Bale) emerges in New York's Greenwich Village, followed by "Robbie (Heath Ledger)," Jude (Cate Blanchett) and other personalities.

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Critics Consensus

I'm Not There's unique editing, visuals, and multiple talented actors portraying Bob Dylan make for a deliciously unconventional experience. Each segment brings a new and fresh take on Dylan's life.

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Joel B

Simply stated? I didn't like this movie and wouldn't recommend it.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

02/25/24

Full Review

jorge l

One of those movies that make You love writing, because it is like poetry, With Pessoa and Rimbaud, and the beatniks, and Dylan himself. Enjoyable and smarth.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

01/19/24

Full Review

Geo3 F

This film is one of the poorly made bioptic films I have seen. First thing the cast did a great job with their roles so for that I give it two stars in particular Cate Blanchet who nail it. Aside from that the film jumps from story to story throughout that it makes it confusing to follow thru so much that I felt uninterested leading to the final act which led me to fall asleep thru some parts of it. My stars reflect what I though of this film meh, it passed the time, that I wish to get back.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

12/06/23

Full Review

Taylor L

You know how intense and creative a performance you have to give in order to outshine Christian Bale, Mr. Method Acting himself? Cate Blanchett takes on a genderswapped role as a specific facet of Bob Dylan's personality, the kind that said whatever he wanted to and liked drugs. And it's pretty awesome. I'm Not There is one of the most creative attempts at dissecting a nonfiction character, in this case Bob Dylan and his notoriously dynamic nature (how many musicians went through more 'phases', apart from David Bowie?). The film presents six different actors that take on different facets of the musician, but not at different parts of his own historical life - instead, each is a reflection of a different aspect of Dylan's personality as he evolved, each bearing a different name and no direct connection to one another. The characters can even have totally anachronistic backgrounds - one of the personas (an unrecognizable Richard Gere) is a revisionist take on Billy the Kid in the dying days of the Wild West, which probably isn't a strategy a conventional biographer would think to take in describing the life of a 20th century folk singer. But it's a much more literal understanding of a 'multifaceted' personality, which is necessary given the wide-ranging influence, shifting nature, and long career of Dylan. The film deliberately avoids structure, because it's not so much about telling a story as it is about describing a personality, which to Todd Haynes is like a four-dimensional shape; everything changes with time, but even in any one moment there is no simple explanation. It's a design that could never be adopted into a movement, but for this one film, it's creative and far more successful than you might initially think. Part of what makes the film so interesting is not just that it's such an inventive design for a biopic, but that the subject was still very much alive and kicking during its development and release; "I thought it was all right. ... I thought it looked good, and those actors were incredible." And he's right about the casting, there are some brilliant performances here, and the film would collapse without them. Heath Ledger, at this point in his life with this style of facial hair, looked shockingly like Chris Pratt. (4/5)

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/12/23

Full Review

Thomas M

The best acting performance from Cate Blanchett!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

11/26/22

Full Review

Shioka O

It's an interesting project, I enjoyed the Cate Blanchett part most. Amazing full cast. I don't know whether Dylan liked it or not, and he hasn't died yet, so there would be more or one another story added.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

11/01/22

Full Review

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Todd Haynes

Director

Christian Bale

Jack

Cate Blanchett

Jude

Marcus Carl Franklin

Woody

Richard Gere

Billy

Heath Ledger

Robbie

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Joshua Rothkopf

Time Out

Rated: 5/5

Nov 17, 2011

Full Review

Alonso Duralde

MSNBC

Haynes is brilliant at tearing off the top of his own head and giving audiences a peek into his pop obsessions.

Rated: 5/5

May 1, 2008

Full Review

James Berardinelli

ReelViews

There are those who will applaud what Haynes and his actors have accomplished, and I can understand its appeal on an intellectual level. But I am not a supporter of film without form or art without structure.

Rated: 2/4

Jan 4, 2008

Full Review

Nick Rogers

Midwest Film Journal

It could be argued no such film could be made about any other performer than Dylan, so relevant, omnipresent and productive across so many decades. But this shapeless glob about creative tendencies toward contradiction and chaos has no direction home.

Rated: 2/4

Nov 9, 2023

Full Review

Farah Cheded

A Good Movie To Watch

An inspired spiritual biopic that miraculously reflects the poetry and unique essence of its singular subject.

Sep 23, 2023

Full Review

Sean Axmaker

Stream on Demand

...not a biography by any conventional definition but an impressionistic survey of the artist, his art, his interaction (and at times collision) with the culture he both grabs onto and flees, and the mystery that still surrounds Dylan.

Sep 8, 2023

Full Review

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Synopsis

Several actors portray legendary singer-songwriter Bob Dylan at different stages in his personal life and career. In 1959 a guitar-strumming youth (Marcus Carl Franklin) rides the rails, calling himself "Guthrie." Then a man named Jack (Christian Bale) emerges in New York's Greenwich Village, followed by "Robbie (Heath Ledger)," Jude (Cate Blanchett) and other personalities.

Director: Todd Haynes
Executive Producer: Hengameh Panahi, Philip Elway, Andrea Grosch, Douglas E. Hansen, Wendy Japhet, Steven Soderbergh, Amy J. Kaufman, John Wells
Screenwriter: Todd Haynes, Oren Moverman
Distributor: Weinstein Co.
Production Co: VIP 4 Medienfonds, Endgame Entertainment, John Wells Productions, Killer Films
Rating: R (Nudity|Language|Some Sexuality)
Genre: Biography, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Nov 21, 2007, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 10, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA): $4.0M

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