I'm Not There Review

I walked out of a movie theater for the first time ever tonight.  Actually it wasn't a movie theater, but a Music Hall, which was showing a bunch of new movies as part of Telluride By the Sea.  I have gone to this yearly Celebration of Cinema every year that I have been able and try to see most if not all the movies available.

I'm Not There is a portrayal of Bob Dylan's life told through six different actors.  Some disclaimer here.  I don't really care for Dylan's work.  He is a fine enough guy.  I have seen him perform live and understood none of it..  I like some of the earlier stuff, but in general it just doesn't do much for me.  I know nothing of his life or history, etc.  So I wasn't planning on watching this movie, however the preview sounded really interesting.  A very creative way to approach the subject at the very least and it has gotten some good press.

So why did I and my wife walk out?  Well quite frankly we were confused from the start.  Nothing made sense.  I am pretty sure this movie would make sense to people who know Dylan's work and story already.  But at 135 minutes long I couldn't even last 20.  Others in the audience seemed happy, and laughed at jokes I hadn't realized had been told.  They knew something I didn't.  They knew Dylan.

I am looking forward to talking to friends that also went.  Perhaps some of them were able to better follow what was happening.  I will post an update here should there be anything relevant to mention from others point of view.

Have you seen it?  Did it make sense to you?  What was I missing?  Who was the kid in the beginning?