There’s literally so many things to say about this Todd Haynes’ Bob Dylan abstract bio-epic, we could literally write an obnoxiously long review of the film, so we won’t (at least not yet). Instead some highlights and notes from the film which we finally saw at the New York Film Festival.
– Julianne Moore doing a dead-on and amazing interpretation of an older Joan Baez riffing about the young Dylan she knew that’s straight from Martin Scorsese’s “No Direction Home” interviews with Baez.
– Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon in a quick cameo as Carla Hendricks, a former associate of Jack Rollins (Christian Bale) in a documentary within the film looking back on his life.
– Cate Blanchett lip-synching Stephen Malkmus and the Million Dollar Bashers faithful versions of “Maggie’s Farm” at the New England Folk Festival (seen in this clip) and “Ballad Of A Thin Man” later on during an “Eat The Document” 1966-era concert in London. Malkmus seems to delight in almost imitating Dylan’s animus-filled snarl from that era.
– Christian Bale as (Jack Rollins) singing Mason Jennings faithful and very-well replicated versions of “The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll” and “The Times They Are A Changin’.” Later in the film Bale as an older and now Christian Rollins performs X’s John Doe’s take on the Saved era track, “Pressin’ On” (you can also see that scene here).
– My Morning Jacket’s Jim James and Calexico’s mournful dirgey version of The Basement Tapes era “Goin’ to Acapulco.” The track is appropriately sung during a funeral with Jim James in white-faced Rolling Thunder Review makeup and features Calexico’s Joey Burns and John Convertino as the backup brass band players.
– A quick and whimsical Richard Lester homage/parody where the Beatles briefly run in to Cate Blanchett’s Jude character.
– Antony and the Johnsons’ gorgeous and elegiac cover of “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door” that plays in the credits after Sonic Youth’s mostly-straight, but slightly spooky cover of the title track, “I’m Not There.”
– The brief overheard voice of Kris Kristofferson as a narrator at the film’s beginning.
– The “8 1/2” references during a scene where Jude (Cate Blanchett) is intruded upon by grotesque-looking press reporters and fawning sycophants who chase him around a court yard asking multitudes of question (similar to how Marcello Mastroianni’s character is hounded by the press in Fellini ‘s surrealist masterpiece). These Fellini references continue to rear their head in the film like when Cate Blanchett’s Jude character is floating in the sky like a balloon being grounded only by a rope around his foot which mirrors “8 1/2″”s opening dream sequence.
We will say this: we were surprised to hear many more Dylan originals than covers in the film, but this in no way spoiled or hurt the film.