I’m Not There
The film intercuts stories featuring different actors playing characters based on the life or the legend of Bob Dylan. Marcus Carl Franklin, a young black actor, plays a version of the 11-year old Dylan, who calls himself “Woody Guthrie” and escapes from a juvenile correction center by hitching a ride on a train, carrying a guitar labeled “This Machine Kills Fascists.” Christian Bale plays Jack Rollins, a version of Dylan as a young folk singer with a political conscience, and who later becomes “Pastor John,” a version of Dylan the born again Christian, here singing gospel songs in a small town church. Cate Blanchett plays Jude Quinn, a version of Dylan at the height of his fame in the 1960s, when his original fan base was rejecting him as a sell-out. Ben Whishaw plays a version of Dylan as a young rebel who calls himself after the poet Arthur Rimbaud. Heath Ledger plays Robbie Clark, a Hollywood actor best known for his performance in a film about Jack Rollins; he represents Dylan the divorcee, estranged from his wife Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg). Richard Gere plays the elderly Dylan as an aging Billy the Kid in a surreal Wild West town, who defeats an even more elderly Pat Garrett (played by Bruce Greenwood).
The storylines are shot in different film stocks and styles. The scenes featuring Woody Guthrie, Robbie Clark and Billy the Kid are in color. The scenes involving Jack Rollins/Pastor John are shot on 16mm color stock, and are framed as a documentary with interviews from people who knew him describing his transformation. Jude Quinn’s scenes are in black and white, and use surreal imagery based on those in Federico Fellini’s 8½ (1962). Arthur Rimbaud’s scenes are shot on very grainy black and white stock.
