How many readers must a blogger have before he can call himself a blogger?
The answer my friends is…3.5.
BQB here with a review of the Bob Dylan biopic.
SPOILERS ABOUND!
Then again how can there be spoilers when Bob Dylan is 83 years old. And if he really chain smoked as many cigarettes as his counterpart, Timothee Chalamet, did in this movie, he must have made some sort of deal with the devil to live this long.
In some ways, this film resembles most famous musician biopics. A young artist’s dream comes true when he finds fame and fortune. But alas, all the fame and money in the world can’t fill the hole in his soul. Various music industry suits want to exploit him for cash. He loses the only girlfriend who loved him and believed in him before the fame came because he succumbs to the temptation of all the other hotties who want him. Alas, after yearning to be famous for so long, he is now sad because he can’t have five minutes of peace without some fan shouting and pointing at him. Even worse, his fans don’t want him to grow as an artist and try anything new. They just want him to be a trained monkey who keeps spitting out his greatest hits.
In another way, this biopic is different. The title comes from a line in one of Bob’s songs, “Like a Rolling Stone.” (i.e. “how does it feel to be all on your own, a complete unknown?” But Bob is a complete unknown – to the world, to his fans, his friends, his lovers and even to himself.
When he hitches his way to New York City, he takes advantage of his new surroundings to reinvent himself. He never speaks honestly about his past. Instead, he makes up a story of a youth spent working for a circus, claiming that wandering cowboys taught him everything he knows about how to play the guitar. Everyone sees through the BS but his girlfriend, Sylvie (Elle Fanning) is exhausted by it. Bob won’t let her in and we spend the entire film wondering if Bob is just a dick who is gaslighting everyone into thinking he is a mystery man, or if he really does feel that way.
We never truly get an answer. Chalamet plays Bob as a walking contradiction. He walks and talks and presents himself as a man mired in depression – rumpled clothes and wild, unkempt hair, always mumbling (Dylan’s signature sound.) Yet he acts like a man with unbridled self-confidence, such that he has zero doubt his talent will land him at the top of the game.
Dylan provides the soundtrack of the 1960s. His song, “The Times They Are A-Changin'” couldn’t describe that time period any better. That era was a time of great change, of social justice protests and civil rights struggles, of moving away from comfort zones and challenging the status quo. Vietnam, political assassinations, clashes over civil rights marked the decade and Dylan’s songs captured it all with tones that somehow were equally depressing and uplifting.
Monica Barbaro plays folk singer Joan Baez, who rounds out the love triangle while Scoot McNairy and Ed Norton play Bob’s idols and mentors, popular folk musicians Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger, respectively. Personally, I wonder if this movie wasn’t made largely because Chalamet’s agent was like, “Hey Hollywood, if we slap a mop top wig and sunglasses on this little shit and make him mumble, it’ll make a great Bob Dylan flick,” but what do I know? For all I know this biopic could have been in the works a long time.
But while a lot of it follows the standard biopic formula, Ed Norton, IMO, deserves some Oscar recognition here. Ed tends to just play himself in a lot of movies (as most actors do) but he really turns into someone else when he takes on Seeger’s “Aw shucks” personality, mentoring his young protege and eventually coming at odds with him over differing views as to the direction in which folk music should go. Who is Pete Seeger, you younguns ask? Ever hear of a little song that goes, “This land is my land, this land is your land?” He made it into his 90s and Baez is still kicking at 83 so there must be something about folk music that gets all the gunk out of your soul so you can reach full longevity.
Folk music is all about acoustics and story-telling and at a crossroads where rock and roll is taking over, Dylan breathes new life into the artform by taking risks – to the delight of mainstream music listeners but to the chagrin of folk purists. You didn’t know there’s such a thing as folk purists? You do now.
STATUS: Shelf-worthy. If you like Dylan’s music, you’ll love this soundtrack. If you are into 1960’s culture, it does capture the spirit of that turbulent decade. My only criticism is we never learn why Bob Dylan was such an enigma, what was he running from that he felt he had to shut down any talk of who he is and where he came from and adopt a mysterious persona? But I assume the movie doesn’t answer this question because the answer is unknown even to Bob Dylan.
Bookshelf Battle 