It's Not Really There

Sometimes the book is better than the movie. In this case, the review was better than the movie. What can I say. I liked the movie, but I loved the review in the NY Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/21/movies/21ther.html?_r=1&8dpc&oref=slogin

The review was well-written, well-organized, and convincing in its enthusiasm. It was (in a way) everything the movie was not.

From the review, I could picture the movie I wanted to see. Unfortunately, that was not the movie I saw. Sure, I loved the music; there was a lot of great original Dylan, and some very good covers. And the movie had its moments--the prepubescent, African-American Dylan named Marcus was pure fun and his scene with Richie Havens was infectious. The town of Riddle was fun to visit. But much of the rest of it was not as much fun--especially the Richard Gere part as Billy the Kid, and the Julianne Moore part as Alice Fabian as Joan Baez, which was beginning to approach "A Mighty Wind."

For me, "I'm Not There," was partially, but not all there. For a neighboring moviegoer, it was a form of unusual, if not cruel punishment that was not quite torture, but she did not understand why she was being held there so long.