I'm Not There Sorta There

A "leaked" excerpt of Todd Haynes' long-awaited Bob Dylan curio I'm Not There is all over YouTube these days, prompting all kinds of outrage ("Absurdly unbelievable!" cries Patrick Goldstein), anticipation ("oddly cool," notes Jeff Wells), doubletakes ("exceptionally promising," writes Ray Pride, who nevertheless avoided the link on piracy grounds) and wholesale reversals (Scott Macaulay ran the clip late last week; you can see how that turned out). This would be the second Weinstein Co. "inside job" to make the YouTube rounds in as many months, so you're not going to find me on any high roads; can there be any legitimate doubt that this is viral marketing? I'm not complaining -- obviously I bit -- but let's not kid each each other.

Anyway, devoid of the context that has made the project famous -- six actors playing Dylan in various stages of his career; the rumored three-hour cut haunting Weinstein Co. headquarters -- I'm not prepared to judge much of anything, but I'm kind of surprised to be as taken in as I am by Cate Blanchett as Dylan and David Cross as Allen Ginsberg. They're both thoroughly believable, maybe even great.

Expect more to follow at a festival somewhere this fall, probably Toronto, but Harvey had better get his scissors oiled. We're at T-minus 50 days and counting.

Posted at July 16, 2007 11:39 AM