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?ÄúThere was no actor anywhere/Better than the jack of hearts.?Äù
?Äì Bob Dylan, ?ÄúLily, Rosemary, and the Jack of Hearts?Äù

One of 2007?Äôs most provocative films, ?ÄúI?Äôm Not There?Äù features six actors portraying a character based upon a particular characterization of ?Äúthe life and times of Bob Dylan.?Äù

Nearly every reviewer has praised the performance of Cate Blanchett as the ?Äúmid-60s Bob?Äù character Jude Quinn, and rightfully so. She deserves the Best Actor (not ?ÄúBest Actress?Äù ?Äì no male is even going to come CLOSE to her work in this film and she should be commended accordingly) award from any and all of the plaque-and-statuette groups considered so important in determining value, as though compelled to inform the movie-going public that ?Äúsomething is happening here but you don?Äôt know what it is.?Äù

Nearly every reviewer has also felt compelled to rank Richard Gere?Äôs role as ?ÄúBilly the Kid?Äù as either unnecessary or boring; however, in many ways, Gere?Äôs role is the most necessary of all in the ongoing tale of Bob Dylan. Gere?Äôs is the role of the man who finds his way back onto the true path, the path that leads to one?Äôs essence of self.

Prior to Gere?Äôs first appearance, the previous five Dylan characterizations have been pushed from a train, sang protest songs and walked away from the scene, married, stared down the audience to the accompaniment of his own withering responses to an interviewer?Äôs questions, and taken the new ?Äúfolkie gone electric?Äù music to British audiences and media, none of whom are too, to use the then-popular phrase, ?Äúgear?Äù about it.

Billy awakens in what appears to be a pastoral setting, something one would have expected Puritans to see upon disembarking from the Mayflower, but quickly assesses it as the equivalent of a Fellini Western film, complete with warnings of ?ÄúPat Garrett?Äôs coming?Äù (Garrett was Billy?Äôs friend and outlaw-turned-sheriff who later shot and killed him) from the local townsfolk, a funeral for ?ÄúRose Marie?Äù held a few yards away from a man hanging from a tree, and references and encounters with characters who populated Dylan?Äôs legendary musical project with a group of musicians he dubbed ?ÄúThe Band?Äù following his infamous 1966 motorcycle accident: The Basement Tapes.

Billy is greeted by Tiny Montgomery, hears about some incident involving a Mrs. Henry, confides in a neighbor named Homer (?ÄúOpen the Door, Homer?Äù from ?ÄúThe Basement Tapes?Äù contains a chorus with the final two lines stating ?ÄúI’ve heard it said before/But I ain’t gonna hear it said no more,?Äù a tidy summary of ascent to crash, regarding Dylan or any celebrated figure in history), a man in a butcher?Äôs apron with a box full of steaks saying ?ÄúPack up the meat, sweet, we’re headin’ out?Äù (from another song from ?ÄúThe Basement Tapes,?Äù this one ?ÄúYea! Heavy & A Bottle of Bread?Äù), and a breathtaking version of ?ÄúGoin?Äô to Acapulco?Äù by Jim James of My Morning Jacket in Rolling Thunder Revue-era whiteface, ?ÄúI’m going down to Rose Marie’s/She never does me wrong/She puts it to me plain as day/And gives it to me for a song.?Äù

At the end of Billy?Äôs thread in the narrative, he boards a moving train and finds the guitar that had been left there by the first character; he, as stated earlier, had been pushed from the train he had been riding. Billy takes the guitar out of the dusty case, sits on the floor of the boxcar, and moves down the track through the American wilderness. He is back on the train. Back on track. Back to what got him started on his journey in the first place.

Just like Bob Dylan got back on track throughout his career with acoustic recordings like the above-mentioned Basement Tapes and, in particular, the one-two punch of ?ÄúGood As I Been to You?Äù and ?ÄúWorld Gone Wrong?Äù following a series of erratic recordings and rambling, confounding, and confusing live performances during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Just like Richard Gere got his film career back on track with ?ÄúPretty Woman?Äù in 1990 after a period of mostly public indifference following his role in 1982?Äôs ?ÄúAn Officer and a Gentleman.?Äù

The audience never sees any Billy or any of the Dylan-based characters return to greatness on the world stage. Nor does it get to see the Richard Gere of ?ÄúLooking for Mr. Goodbar,?Äù ?ÄúDays of Heaven,?Äù or ?ÄúAmerican Gigolo.?Äù (It doesn?Äôt even get to see the Gere of ?ÄúKing David,?Äù which I watched only once, half expecting to hear Blondie sing ?ÄúCall Me?Äù at some point during the movie.) It does get to see Gere portray The Man at the Bottom; without him, there is no story of Bob Dylan. The music?Äôs pretty good, too.

For additional information on ?ÄúI?Äôm Not There,?Äù visit the film?Äôs official website at www.imnotthere-movie.com. To read negative reviews of Richard Gere?Äôs performance in this film, visit www.rottentomatoes.com, enter the film title in the search engine, and knock yourself out, Mr. Jones.

The “I’m Not There” soundtrack is available from i-Tunes. Click the i-Tunes button to go directly to the page for the album.

It’s also available at Amazon.com

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