I'm Not There
Staff Picks
•
2h 15m
I'm Not There is a 2007 musical drama film directed by Todd Haynes, who co-wrote the screenplay with Oren Moverman, based on a story by Haynes. An experimental biographical film, it is inspired by the life and music of American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, with six actors depicting different facets of Dylan's public personas: Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Marcus Carl Franklin, Richard Gere, Heath Ledger (his final film to be released during his lifetime), and Ben Whishaw. A caption at the start of the film declares it to be "inspired by the music and the many lives of Bob Dylan"; this is the only mention of Dylan in the film apart from song credits, and his only appearance in it is concert footage from 1966 shown during the film's final moments.
The title of the film is taken from the 1967 Dylan Basement Tape recording of "I'm Not There", a song that had not been officially released until it appeared on the film's soundtrack album.
I'm Not There premiered at the 64th Venice International Film Festival on September 3, 2007, and was released in the United States on November 21 and in Germany on February 28, 2008. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, with praise for its acting (particularly Blanchett's), directing, and musical score. However, the film underperformed at the box office, grossing $11 million worldwide on the budget of $20 million. It appeared on multiple publications' top ten films lists for 2007. Blanchett won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress and the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress, and received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Up Next in Staff Picks
-
When Harry Met Sally
When Harry Met Sally... is a 1989 American romantic comedy film directed by Rob Reiner and written by Nora Ephron. Starring Billy Crystal, Meg Ryan, Carrie Fisher, and Bruno Kirby, it follows the title characters from the time they meet in Chicago and share a drive to New York City through twelve...
-
American Graffiti
American Graffiti is a 1973 American coming-of-age comedy-drama film directed by George Lucas, produced by Francis Ford Coppola, written by Willard Huyck, Gloria Katz and Lucas, and starring Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, Paul Le Mat, Charles Martin Smith, Candy Clark, Mackenzie Phillips, Cindy Wi...
-
The Blues Brothers
The Blues Brothers is a 1980 American musical action comedy film directed by John Landis. It stars John Belushi as "Joliet" Jake Blues and Dan Aykroyd as his brother Elwood, characters developed from the recurring musical sketch "The Blues Brothers" on NBC's variety series Saturday Night Live. Th...