Movie · 2007 · Drama, Music · 2h 15m · R · English
Curator score: 6.3/10 (121.1K ratings)
All I can do is be me, whoever that is.
Overview
Six actors portray six personas of music legend Bob Dylan in scenes depicting various stages of his life, chronicling his rise from unknown folksinger to international icon and revealing how Dylan constantly reinvented himself.
Ratings
Curator score: 6.3/10
IMDb: 6.8/10
Letterboxd: 3.70/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 76%
Metacritic: 73
TMDB: 6.5/10
Director
Todd Haynes
Production
Endgame Entertainment, Killer Films, John Wells Productions, John Goldwyn Productions, VIP Medienfonds 4, Rising Star Productions
Cast
Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Marcus Carl Franklin, Richard Gere, Heath Ledger, Ben Whishaw, Charlotte Gainsbourg, David Cross, Bruce Greenwood, Julianne Moore, Michelle Williams, Richie Havens, Peter Friedman, Alison Folland, Yolonda Ross, Kim Gordon, Mark Camacho, Joe Cobden, Kristen Hager, Kris Kristofferson
Where to watch
Starz, Philo
Curator Review
Verdict
A daring, fragmented anti-biopic that treats Bob Dylan less as a subject than as a set of masks, myths, and contradictions. It’s challenging and occasionally elusive, but the formal ambition, editing, and performances make it a standout for viewers who like their music films experimental rather than explanatory.
Best for
viewers who enjoy nonlinear, essayistic storytelling
fans of art-house cinema and formal experimentation
people interested in celebrity, identity, and reinvention
music-film fans open to a nontraditional biopic
Skip if
you want a straightforward cradle-to-grave biography
you prefer clear emotional arcs and tidy plotting
you dislike movies that are intentionally opaque or episodic
you’re not interested in 1960s counterculture or Dylan-adjacent lore
Overview
Todd Haynes doesn’t try to solve Bob Dylan; he turns the legend into a prism. By splitting the icon into multiple personas, the film becomes less a biography than a study of performance, self-invention, and the instability of public identity. It’s a movie that understands its subject is always slipping away from definition.
Worth noting
The result is messy in a deliberate, invigorating way. Some segments feel like pure mood, others like historical reverie, and the whole thing moves with the confidence of a film that would rather chase ideas than facts. Cate Blanchett’s turn is the most famous piece of the puzzle, but the larger achievement is how the film makes reinvention itself feel cinematic.
Bottom line
This is not a beginner-friendly music biopic, and that’s part of its appeal. If you’re willing to meet it on its own terms, it offers one of the most inventive portraits of an artist ever put on screen: elusive, contradictory, and alive with the chaos of creation.
Top Letterboxd reviews
gaia (2.5★) · 1614 likes
Cate Blanchett playing Bob Dylan breathe if you agree
laird (4.5★) · 1146 likes
"so full of mystery... contradictions... and chaos. Yes, it's chaos, clocks and watermelons... It's everything."
I have no idea what watching this is like without any point of reference or interest in Bob Dylan or 60s arthouse films, but I also don't care. If not for all of the footnotes needed, this would, I think, widely be considered one of the best movies of the new millennium. It's certainly one of the best movies about an artist or maybe just… more
JT (4.5★) · 1085 likes
five words every man wants to hear: david cross as alan ginsberg
dani🇵🇸 (4.5★) · 764 likes
I'm beginning to think this film is barely about Bob Dylan. Identity seems to be a key point of question in Haynes' characters, and it's most certainly present here. "I'm Not Here" is a film about you. You're no one, yet everyone at the same time.
"I accept chaos, I'm not sure whether it accepts me" - Bob Dylan
Jake Alda Coffey (2★) · 693 likes
Cate Blanchett looks more like Bob Dylan than Bob Dylan looks like Bob Dylan.
2013 · Drama · 2h 22m · Curator 8.9/10 (259.6K ratings) · Where to watch: Max
Lush, reflective cinema about fame, art, and the search for meaning inside a cultivated persona.
Topics
art-house, experimental narrative, biopic deconstruction, music drama, nonlinear storytelling, 1960s counterculture, identity crisis, surreal tone, period piece, character study