Pajiba

Hmmm.... Blanchett and Bale.

Am I understanding the premise correctly? All the actors are playing Dylan?

So glad that Haynes was able to pull this off. I was worried about it for a bit.

I was lucky enough to see this at the Toronto Film Festival in September, and was blown away.
Hanes created something truly original with this film.

I must be one of the few people out there that doesn't like Bob Dylan. I get him, as much as there is to be had, I'm educated, liberal, etc. etc. But the very sound of any of this man's work pisses me off. I hate Bob Dylan's music. And I wipe my ass with this kind of film.

I hated this film the first time I saw it, when it was directed by Todd Solodonz and called "Palindromes". Worst film ever.

Lila, you're not alone. I've loathed his "music" since I first heard it at the age of 5, and nothing has been able to change my opinion of it. He's seriously one of the most overrated snake-oil salesmen ever; just a case of the right place at the right time.

This review is utterly confusing to me, but I think that speaks more to the movie than the review. In fact, this movie seems like one big mess. Never having been a Dylan fan (nothing against him, just never gave him much of a listen), this obviously wasn't made for people like me. But even from the standpoint of hearing about it as a regular old anticipated movie release it still doesn't hold much appeal. Based on it's take during opening weekend, I think others agree.

Part of the challenge of appreciating any work of art, I think, is in the attempt to experience it as though you were the initial audience. After all, any artistic expression is partly a function of the moment in which it was created.

I'm not up to that challenge in regards to Bob Dylan. I find myself unable to transport back to the time when so many people whose opinions I respect found Dylan to be groundbreaking and transformative. Maybe that's it -- I wasn't around in the days before Dylan, so I didn't internalize the atmosphere that he so brazenly defied. He's not pushing against anything, at least not to me.

So all that's left is the thing itself, the music. And I just don't care for it.

Amen to Lila and Pinkcheese. The agony of being a child whose parents worshipped this maniac can only be compared to having tabasco sauce poured on your hemorrhoids.

Bwah!!! Thank god I finished eating before I read that, lateformyfuneral - that was a briliant analogy.

I saw Dylan once circa 1989 or so (free tix won from the radio) and laughed my ass off the whole time. We could not understand one word of his lyrics. It was all pops and buzzes to me. Needless to say, we left about 5 songs into it.

I'm sort of shocked at the lack of love for Dylan round these parts.

Sansho1 - I don't know if agree with your premise, fundamentally, but lets just say that I do and go from there. Dylan didn't stop making music in 1976. His most recent album was called Modern Times and it came out a little over a year ago. The myth of Dylan, and the one I think "I'm Not There" is trying to explode, is that he was a product of his time. Sure, much of his early work apes it's form from folkies who came before but lyrically, the guy was wholly his own man. He was a product of his time in the way Shakespeare was. Formally. The heart of his work is universal and timeless.

I find no fault with people who don't dig him. He's certainly not easy listening. But this sort of statement:
I get him, as much as there is to be had... makes me batty. No Lila - you don't get him. And that's ok. By the way, "getting" him has nothing to do with being liberal. Zilch. In his memoir he claims his favorite politician was Goldwater. So, yeah...

In case it wasn't painfully obvious, I'm a huge Dylan fan (largely because my parents poured tabasco on my hemorrhoids as a child). I want to see the film again before I make up my mind about it. So far, all I'm sure of is that Cate Blanchett is amazing. Beyond that, I think it might have been a mess. A compelling, thought provoking mess. Definately don't spend your duckets unless you love the man's music.

I was trying to craft a defense of Dylan, but Beckyloo did it better than I could.

Let me add that before you dismiss Dylan based on his early 60's protest song persona, give Blood on the Tracks, Oh Mercy, or Modern Times a chance. You might be surprised.

Blood on the Tracks is my all time favorite album.

"Idiot wind... Blowing through the dust upon our shelves. We're idiots babe, it's a wonder we can even feed ourselves."

Then there's Tangled Up In Blue. But I can't pick just one line.

Don't know why you're surprised Beckylooo. For myself, I'm not the biggest Dylan fan, but I like him well enough. One thing that has always struck me however, not about the man himself but the reaction to his music, is that 99% of people who hear it either absolutely love it or absolutely loathe it. I think that is what elevates him to his iconic status, because let's be frank, from a musical standpoint he's always ridden the line between mediocre and good. It's the lyrics that spark the love (and hate) that you're seeing here.

As far as the film is concerned, it does sound like it might be a bit of a mess, but that fits Dylan better than your standard biopic would. I'll give it a watch on dvd, more out of curiosity about the success of the format than anything else.

I dunno, I'd be surprised if any of the haters here could quote a line from any tune not on Freewheelin'. (I'd love to be proven wrong. While I won't be able to tell if you used google, Jesus will. And by Jesus, I mean Dylan. Obviously.)

I think what inspires hate is the tone of his voice. People can't get past it and listen to the words. For those folks, I recommend Nashville Skyline. He drops his nasal affectation for almost the entire album.

I too am surprised by the lack of Bob Dylan love, whether you like the sound of his voice or not, the man is a genius. Just drop your Three Days Grace album, and pick up some liner notes. Be prepared to see some of the 20th century's greatest poetry slapping you in your ignorant mug. Finally, most people, even "voice haters" (you know those lame-os who say "Dylan's a great song writer but he has such an awful voice", and think that they're being original...you're not), can't deny that Blonde on Blonde is at the very least an ok album, so maybe listen to that before you diss a man with whose asshole displays more talent than you will in your whole life. I'm not surprised though, that this movie won't appeal to non-fans or even minor fans, the guy comes across as a raging maniac , and only the love of his words can make his persona forgiveable at times.

Believe me, I've "experienced" Dylan and his various incarnations throughout the years, and nothing he has ever done has changed my mind. I can't quote his lyrics because, quite frankly, it would be a waste of my time to memorize songs I don't like. It's the same way I feel about Hemingway; I don't like him, ergo I don't read him.

As for people who dislike him having talent(or not), that's a ridiculous comment, since no one here claimed that they did. Music is one of the most highly subjective forms of art, and attempting to prove people wrong about their tasts by insinuating that they are talentless and don't know any better completely invalidates any argument.

So, the upshot of this is, let's not start vicious personal attacks on people, simply because of differing tastes in music. There are far better things to fight about. Now, drink up, everyone!

tasts=tastes

When I was a kid I took everything that my father said as absolute truth. He always said that Bob Dylan sucked and so I took his word on it. Now that I'm older and wiser and form my own oppinions I find that I like Dylan's music very much, though I am no expert and I certainly don't worship the man like many do.

In fact, I know nothing about him, and I expected this to hinder my ability to enjoy this film, but it did not.

All biography is fiction. Life doesn't unfold in story format. I liked this approach to biography very much.

I left the theater no closer to worshiping Dylan, but I DID leave the theater worshiping Cate Blanchet. Her segment, 8 1/2 in miniature, was my favorite. When she's talking in the back of the car and turns to look directly into the camera she became my favorite actress.

I am one of those Dylan "voice-haters." I don't know if he's a great songwriter because I never got past the voice. About this film, meh. I can appreciate the format, but I probably won't see it. I'm just not that interested in Dylan.

Here's the thing about taste...I'm allowed to like what I like. It doesn't make me an idiot, it only makes me different than you in taste. I don't like Dylan. On occasion, I really hate him. I make fun of HIM, but I never tell someone who likes him that they are an idiot. Respect my dislike of the man in the same way. Not liking Dylan, as far as I know, has not appreciably diluted my IQ or my reasoning skills.

the other thing about taste (especially in music) is that people take it very personally. Don't compare listening to someone's favorite artist to having tabasco sauce poured on roids and then hide behind "can't we all just get along" when you get an angry reaction.

Beckyloo,

What can I say, I'm just not a fan. How am I going to quote lyrics of someone I don't like enough to listen to repeatedly?

I will say this -- when Gotta Serve Somebody (a song I happen to like) came out, I could have serenaded you start to finish! :)

In case I wasn't clear (unlike Mssr. Zimmerman, I live in constant fear of being misunderstood) I didn't expect anyone who doesn't dig his shit to be able to quote it. I was trying to make the point that people don't hate him because of his lyrics, most do so because of his voice.

Also, I am a staunch proponent of to each his own.

I'm with ya on Gotta Serve Somebody. Killer tune. I quote it all the time.

Pink Cheese: "let's not start vicious attacks on people" you say...

"He's seriously one of the most overrated snake-oil salesmen ever".

You just launched a personal attack on the subject of the film and on one of my favorite artists (who you PALE to, as do I, but at least I know it) and then you go and get morally superior...why are you on a message board about a movie made for Bob Dylan fans anyway? You're entitled to your opinion and your taste, but maybe this isn't the best place to voice it considering you can't seem to take the heat you draw.

So you say, but I actually didn't mind your response, I guess I just wasn't reading closely enough; I didn't think it was solely directed at me, when apparently it was. I came here because I was curious about how the movie turned out, since I thought the idea of multiple actors playing one character was fascinating, no matter who the subject, and commented in response to a previous comment.

All that aside, I stand behind my statement, since the man has all but admited it himself in recent years, "Dylan describes his answers, including his description of coming to New York City by hopping boxcars on freight trains, as "pure hokum...hophead talk. ... I hadn't come in on a freight train at all. What I did was come across the country from the Midwest in a four-door sedan, '57 Impala..."."

As a final note, I certainly wasn't going for moral superiority, just saying that if you want me to become a fan of the man and his music, comparing me to his asshole, and implying that I'm a moron is not the best way to go about it.

My first post wasn't directed at you, only my second one was. I think it's silly to say such a terrible thing about a person famous or not, and then turn around and try to smooth it over with a "it's a matter of taste, let's not get personal". It's like if I went up to the people in the midnight Harry Potter line and told them I think the writing is trite, the plot unoriginal, the story arcs uninspiring and that Harry Potter eats baby bunnies that he kills himself. Of course those people will take it personally. And I don't want you to be a fan of his music, you will be or you won't be whether I like it or not, but I do want you (all you haters), to at least appreciate what the man has done (re: had a music career that spans 5 decades, rumoured to have revolutionized folk and rock, been constisently commercially and critically successful, mystified audiences, inspired movements, etc) before you call him a slimy salesman-type. The man has accomplished more than you, or any one on this message board ever will, and for that he deserves respect. You don't have to like him or his music, but you should respect him if you have any good sense.

Such hostility...*shakes head in frustration* CAN'T YOU SEE THIS BICKERING IS TEARING US APART!!!!

I swear, sometimes, I think...I'm the only voice of reason around here...

Regarding Dylan's voice:

Ever hear the noise the noise made when the drive belt on a '67 Volkswagen Beetle skips the alternator's pulley?

You haven't, so I'm guessing you haven't heard the DIABOLICAL ever increasing screeching noise as you drive it anyway 'cause you've got a hooker in the back seat and your father-in-law is following you in his Hemi Powered Durango and you have to take a dirt road and....err sorry... sorry I digress...anyway, that's Dylan's voice.

Fascinating stuff. "Overrated snake oil salesman"? You might say so. He might say so. And, of course, anybody might say the same thing in regards to just about any movie, music, or sports celebrity you could name. Not to mention all the folks who seem to want to be elected president in less than a year.

If you take a look around you, you might think that this country is all about money, conformity, the abuse of power, consumerism, greed, sexploitation, racial divisions, hypocrisy, cant, and political charlatanism. Which it is, and to some degree always has been. But it's also about redemption and freedom and courage and humanity, which are the only reasons we haven't knifed, garrotted, poisoned, shot, electrocuted, or blown ourselves up en masse yet. At this particular place in time, and in particular over the past 60 years or so, we've developed some pretty ugly habits and some extremely risky alliances: this has become a very dangerous neighborhood; even though it's sort of trended up, in places. Not the kind of place you want to raise your kids. Not the kind of place you want to grow old in.

So, if your minstrels are telling the truth (or even just trying to look like they're telling the truth) about what's been going on in the family over the last 4 or 5 generations or so, they're not necessarily going to sound as slick as elevator music. If there's jeopardy afoot in both the conscious and the subconscious world (and, jeez, I dunno if it's the movies or the news that's scarier) you'd think you'd want somebody to be calling a charade a charade. In whatever voice gets your attention.

So, who's the informant? A mid-westerner, a nerdy Jewish kid who wanted to be a rock n roller, a beatnik. A cultural sponge and treasure-house, an artist, an ego, a former religious fanatic. The file suggests overtones of misogyny, drug abuse, self-righteousness, and artistic bad judgment. But there's a serial killer on the loose--maybe a legion of 'em, by the number of bloody fingerprints around. We know this guy's got a keen eye, he always tells some sort of truth, and, almost everytime we've listened to him, we've learned something important.

I say: call him in and see what's on his mind.

Hold the tabasco sauce, sweetheart. I'm going to see the movie.

I was going to make some insightful comments about the role of protest music and why it's so important, and how it seems to have died a horrible death (with the likes of Pink trying to resuscitate it, what hope do we have?) and a movie about Bob Dylan is timely...

Then I started to read the comments...

*hic*

Starbuck: Dude. Chill.

tomc: How long did it take you to compose that comment? Be honest, now.

And, because apparently it is Terribly Important, I'm a huge Dylan fan. Somehow, though, I manage not to care that other people on the internet are not.

TT: somewhere between 45 minutes and 44 years, depending on where you start counting.

I didn't grow up listening to Dylan, and I'm not the world's biggest fan but I've always thought that I would like to raise my kids on Dylan one day even though it'll be out of sync with history.

It seems to me like such a gift because people who were raised on Dylan and who "get" the music go on to have more evolved tastes, it encourages something I can't quite put my finger on. I have to say thanks to Beckyloo, the haters don't even make sense to me, his voice is grating? you can't make out the lyrics? Maybe that would play into things if we were talking about some disposable pop-star, not DYLAN !

I see a lot of value in putting to terms the impact he's had. We're going to get a lot more great art in the future in response. Can't wait to see this movie, Cate Blanchett is lovely. Pajibans: lay down your arms.

I didn't grow up listening to Dylan, and I'm not the world's biggest fan but I've always thought that I would like to raise my kids on Dylan one day even though it'll be out of sync with history.

It seems to me like such a gift because people who were raised on Dylan and who "get" the music go on to have more evolved tastes, it encourages something I can't quite put my finger on. I have to say thanks to Beckyloo, the haters don't even make sense to me, his voice is grating? you can't make out the lyrics? Maybe that would play into things if we were talking about some disposable pop-star, not DYLAN !

I see a lot of value in putting to terms the impact he's had. We're going to get a lot more great art in the future in response. Can't wait to see this movie, Cate Blanchett is lovely. Pajibans: lay down your arms.

Okay, so let me make sure I've got the gist here...only fans are allowed to read and comment on any particular review. If anyone on the internet says they don't like a band or artist that I personally love, I'm supposed to leap to their defense and take it very, very personally. Now that I have the rules straight, I'll do better (I hope). As for the tabasco sauce, those of you who feel the need to use it, put it any old where you want.

Jeez,chill,people.

Was there no mention of Blanchett in this review-or how the different depictions turned out?Richard Gere maybe?

Half-baked,for one of the more anticipated films this year.Gah,this is prob gonna get me some hating-seeing how utterly jobless & self-important some of the commentors are here,but,again,chill,it's just my opinion.

"..seeing how utterly jobless & self-important some of the commentors are here,but,again,chill,it's just my opinion..."

Gotta admit you sure got my number, it's all I do, live off food-stamps and talk smack on the Internets from my double wide as I watch my stories on the TeeVee, wearing flip-flops and a mankini.

Seeing as everyone is weighing in on one side of the Dylan argument or another, let me stick in my $.02.

I like Dylan's music and his lyrics are some of the most deep and soulful of any singer in the last century...as long as someone else is doing the singing and playing of Dylan's music.

Honestly, most of my favorite songs are ones written by Dylan and performed by someone else. I just can't stand the man's voice, and his personal musical style is boring.

But when someone else tries their hand at a Dylan song, for some reason I finally get what ol' Bobby is talking about.

Don't know if that makes him better or worse it terms of musical greatness. That's just usually how I see it.

As bio pics go, although neither can match "Tucker, The Man and His Dream", Kane still beats I'm not There and most other comers by a very comfortable stretch.

And that's despite the best efforts of a wonderful Blanchett, without whom the movie would have been completely unwatchable. She's the extended car chase in a tedious would-be existential policier without a crime.

"You don't understand, man- his lie/truth was the crime!"

Fine.

Anyway, makes me wonder how she would have been playing Kane.

As far as ranking pics this year in general go, at this level I'd say its a dead heat between I'm Not There and Transformers.

The gimmick at hand is different, is all.

Fans of the originals, in both cases, will of course, battle it out amongst themselves...

And although its got nothing to do with the film one way or the other, Ministry rightly schools Dylan on "Lay Lady, Lay", much as Souxi and the Banshees advise The Beatles on the subject of Prudence, or Jane's quite properly instructs The Stones on "Sympathy", no matter how good, (or not), the respective originals are to begin with. The shoulders of giants and all, I guess.

And even though the Gere sequence was as good a portrait of the early-mid seventies as I've ever seen in thirty(?) minutes or less-

-that particular bullseye, Kate's brilliance, and courageous brass balls in the face of grinning grinding commerce, do not a movie make in and by themselves.

The great strength of this movie, in my eyes, is that is about how we look at a life. Most of the time, we view any life as sort of an inanimate object: "he's shy", or "she's ambitious", or "I've never gotten over my dad's alcoholism." We overlook the fact that we have the power to create, redeem, re-interpret, squander, waste, or transform our lives, everyday.

This is not so much about Bob Dylan, or music, or "the '60's" as it is about celebrity. This is a movie about fame, particularly about how fame effects personality, relationships, and the creative process. As such, it is brilliant. It is oddly comforting, somehow, that the major forces in a movie about Bob Dylan are women. Cate Blanchett just earned an Oscar for this movie, whether anybody has the sense to give it to her is another question. Charlotte Gainsourgh has, too, representing the spouses who have to cope with partners who flip on them after the babies arrive. The dissolution of her marriage, seen from her eyes, is like watching a film about your own heart surgery.

The best musical performance, other than the closing shots, is by Richie Havens, who is clearly having a good time, here. Maybe he and Richard Gere could film a Southern (as opposed to a Western) someday.

Where the movie fails, in my eyes, is in it's portrayal of whatever we refer to as 'the 60's" and to Bob Dylan's part in that dynamic. The 1962-'63 character portrayed by Christian Bale is probably accurate only in that his neuroses are as evident as a case of acne, but the real Bob Dylan stopped twitching and started throwing lightning bolts as soon as he hit the stage. He was taking on the mantle of John Brown, Joan of Arc, Joe Hill, Medgar Evers, and Johnny Ace in public, every night, calling out the crimes of the rich and famous, and knowing that every one of his predecessors ended up catching a bullet, wearing a noose, or being burned at the stake for their troubles. This is why your parents loved Bobby Dylan, because he helped them believe that there was a chance that they might pass a world on to you that wasn't as f*cked up as the one they'd inherited. Believe me, it wasn't quite the same as watching someone dress up in designer denim and croon "This is our country" for Chevrolet commercials.

And that, my friends, is a story that has not yet been told. In fact, judging by present realities, it is a story that has been totally forgotten. Think of the millions of Americans who cancelled their telephone service in outrage after the government started illegal tapping telephones. Recall, if you will, how every major city across the land was choked with demonstrators, led by veterans, when it became clear we were involved in yet another fraudulent and unconstitutional war. Listen to the voices of outrage from every college graduate in this country making six figures whose great grandparents came off the boat smelling of garlic or whiskey as our present day politicians pimp the immigrant issue.

We're not there.

If you really want to know what it was like to be an American in the 1960's, check out "Nothing But A Man". It's out on DVD. And ask yourself what song you're singing today in your own American movie.

tomc:


Excellent, excellent, excellent. No offense to the original reviewer, but you summarized everything I loved about, everything essential in, the movie, which I just saw last night, and which I found trememndously moving.

Dylan is one of my absolute favorite musical artists, and the best songwriter ever. EVER. But I have always been curious about him as a human being, and think that the division of his life and mythology into many different lives was an excellent choice. It is hard to believe that he managed to squeeze all of that into one, ongoing, lifetime. And it is, of course, no wonder that he was unable to maintain a long term relationship throughout the course of his life/lives, though I think he earnestly wanted to. I found that part of the film very moving.

Just bought 'Nothing But A Man', based on your review, on amazon.

I'm singing War Pigs.

John, you nailed it. Thanks for a great review.

When dylan sings baby seals kill themselves.

Dismissing Dylan's vocals as grating and unlistenable - especially when this dismissal is focused on amputating Dylan's cultural significance - is like saying you hate Rothko for his limited colour palatte, Duchamp for his choice of banal objects, or the Beatles because Ringo and the drums is nothing compared to Lennon and...well...everything. Consider intention - don't sell the artist short.

Art revolves around choices; Mark Rothko's colour field paintings were vehicles for an attempt at re-creating an experience of the sublime in art previously limited to JMW Turner's tumultuous, threatening landscapes*. Marcel Duchamp's bottle racks, bicycle wheels and one ubiquitous urinal were experiments in expressing his feelings of becoming overwhelmed with a push towards modern accoutrements, conveniences and questions about life**. Ringo may have been 'allowed to stay' in the Beatles because he just happened to be around when their popularity exploded; the result of a hyperactive PR team. Or, The Beatles would have just caused mass brain hemorrhages if every member was a musical prodigy. Or, Ringo could have just been the Baby Bear porridge for his other flaxen-fingered band members: just right, just exactly what they needed***. All these artists are just paying attention to what's happening around them, and want to understand it more by asking scary questions with scarier answers.

Consider that Dylan's earliest stumblings of vocal and guitar chords started out as imitations of Woody Guthrie. A man with lungs so full of dust you could hear it in his songs. That core never left Dylan - I believe he chose to keep his voice the way it is, and that needs to be accounted for when discussing Dylan as an artist. The reasoning behind that choice is what makes musicians with an intensely divided fan-base so compelling - there are many, many theories behind his decisions; some more eloquent and well-written than others. His voice is part of a package, an image, a device detecting messages, motivations and muses.

Listen to the song Lay Lady Lay - Dylan's voice morphs into a smooth, seductive tenor with hints of his usual style coming out only briefly. Surface-level probing would make it pretty obvious he's singing about getting a lady into his 'big, brass bed'. Maybe a coincidence? Maybe. Maybe not. But what I know for certain is that Dylan's voice is a medium; like his guitar, harmonica and Ray-Bans, like Rothko's colours, like Duchamp's objects, like The Beatles' drummer. And that medium changes as often as his public personae, the identities of characters in his songs, and even his own identity as a recording artist. And I think that's something we can all identify with - you don't always feel like the same person for your entire life. Your time is always a-changin'.

* Please note - this is an incredibly concentrated, blinders in 5.0 Surround Sound attempt at summarizing artistic motivation. Trust me when I say: I'm fully aware of the stacks of contradictory and harmonious theories about this artist and his work. Again, it's just about the importance of choices.
** Same deal as above.
*** Same deal as above.

PS: tomc - Let's get married.

So much wind here.

I loved it. It's gorgeous. I wept and my hands never came unclenched.

If you're an artist of any kind, go see this. It will burn you.

I was also surprised to see so much Dylan-bashing on this site. Whether you see him as a snake-oil salesman or a genius, you can't deny that he was a cultural force for decades, can you? The movie is a great exploration of myth and identity, and the soundtrack is definitely a required element of the experience. Listening to it, and hearing musical heroes reinterpret his work, is a testament to the power of the myth, whether or not you believe it.

tomc - jeez louise, who are you? that's a rhetorical question, of course. but you're knocking me out, man. i've got 30something years reading (and now & then writing) about dylan and your words come closer to the heart of things than anything in recent memory. you've got a gift.

as for the movie - thought it was brilliant. not perfect, but an utter joy. thank god for film makers like todd haynes, who aren't just remaking the same movie we've been seeing over and over the past 70-odd years.

But do you like the music when the Byrds sing his songs?

Well, I treasure Sam Cooke and Stevie Wonder singing "Blowin' In The Wind', and I've always liked Peter, Paul, and Mary's take on "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right." I could add Aaron Neville, Jimi Hendrix, and Maria Muldaur, too. But maybe that's because I like all these artists anyway. The Byrds I never got too excited about, other than "Eight Miles High" and "Jesus Is Just All Right"--maybe because I'm not hearing the intensity of feeling in the words that they seem to require. When they sing "Hey, Mister Tambourine Man" it sounds, to me, more like they're hitchiking to the mall than that they might be diving off a cliff into the ocean, which seems more in keeping with the lyrics

Late-breaking news, guys...I just heard Dolly Parton sing "Blowin' In The Wind" on an album called "Those Were the Days" on Sugar Hill. You can download it from iTunes. Pretty incredible. But not a patch on what she does with "Imagine". Keep the faith....

I've been on and off with Dylan for some time. The moment I decide to hate him, I hear a cover of his songs and it takes me back to him. What annoys people with Dylan is the 7 minutes songs, the repetition of musical themes and the somewhat out of tune voice, right? He's not the easiest to listen to, you need a click moment to fall for him. Covers helped me appreciate his music more(and not just the lyrics), especially Melanie's (Don't think twice, Lay Lady Lay) and the White Stripes' (Isis, One More Cup Of Coffee). Some have been translated into other languages and became true masterpieces. Also the soundtrack has great covers too, but the original song "I'm not there" (by Dylan) is one of the best ever written.
After watching the movie I finally made up my mind. Dylan is a genious and I'll worship him until I die in my footsteps.