A Journal Concerning Todd Haynes' Dylan Film ([info]im_not_there) wrote,
@ 2007-10-06 02:27:00
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The Few, the Proud, the Clueless
I'm Not There has received mostly positive reviews after several film festival screenings. The unintentionally hilarious exceptions seem to be written by critics who proudly


1. Don't know Dylan:
Again, be warned: This is a review by someone who knows next to nothing about Dylan and it's intended for the viewer who knows next to nothing about Dylan. [And he objected to the film being 'exclusionary'!]


2. Don't like Dylan:
Your reaction will depend hugely on whether you see anything deep in Dylan’s music (I don’t) [a.k.a. Boring Film Critic Astonishes Us With Trio of Hatchet Jobs]


3. Don't like people who like Dylan:
Incorporates and represents everything I hate about Bob Dylan, which is what everyone loves about Bob Dylan.

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YIPES!
[info]dianawolf
2007-10-06 02:07 pm UTC (link)
"Well, here's some skepticism for you: Bob Dylan cannot sing, and never could."

Well something is happening here but you don't know what it is, do you Mr. Jones?

As we like to say.
Either you get it or you don't.

I kind of had to laugh at all of them. clueless in Manhattan.

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[info]glitternixon
2007-12-02 12:45 am UTC (link)
Here's an interestingly different negative take from the Onion's AV Club (not the official review, by the way): I had a bad habit in college of cornering people at parties and drunkenly sharing my myriad theories on the life and music of my hero Bob Dylan...After seeing Todd Haynes’ new Dylan biopic I’m Not There on Friday, I understand better than ever how painful it is to sit through a Dylan fan’s incoherent blather about the man, the music, and the myth—oh my God, the fucking myth!—for hours on end.

I disagree of course, but I think it's a much more cogent criticism than some of the ones above. And it's a strange property that Haynes's movies have with me: I can acknowledge the validity of some of the criticism, but I ultimately don't care about it.

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[info]im_not_there
2007-12-02 06:46 pm UTC (link)
That writer sounds like a recovering Dylan obsessive and, like an ex-smoker, or lapsed Catholic, all too willing to pay for past sins by preventing others from following in his mistakes.

And it's a strange property that Haynes's movies have with me: I can acknowledge the validity of some of the criticism, but I ultimately don't care about it.

I feel the same way but it has taken some time. The guy who comments on that blog about how horrible VG is would have once riled me to the point of wanting to post back, but really his obsessive hate for it is even weirder than my obsessive love for it! Haha, poor guy.

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