Monday 7 April 2008

There for 2hrs 16 minutes

Back to Ludlow for I'm Not There and Cate Blanchett's astonishing performance. The latter was worth the ticket price and more. The film is nothing if not courageous and there's not enough of that, so hats off to Haynes. It's also about 'my' era so I'm half seduced already. But whether it all works is another matter. Deconstruction and distancing are not usually good tactics for involving an audience and sustaining it for 2hrs and 16 minutes is a challenge. I'm beginning to think there's a shortage of scissors in the industry. 80 to 100 minutes works really well for me; maybe the sixties did something to my attention span.
I'm off to see Celine & Julie Go Boating today which, at 3hrs 12 minutes, makes me a sucker for punishment - or perhaps I'll sit at the end of the row.

1 comment:

BLURT said...

I'm afraid I wasn't there at all. Haven't had the full cinematic experience on I'm Not There. Saw it on DVD a couple of months ago with plenty of scope for fidgeting. Expecting to like it, was mightily disappointed. Ok, Haynes is sidestepping the well-worn biopic trajectory (star rises from humble beginnings, fame takes its toll, star falls to rock-bottom usually taking some bathroom fittings along with him or her, death or slow and painful restitution) but despite the exuberance and energy of his approach my feeling is that what's on offer is a series of interlocking pastiches. They jostle up against each other, some of them extremely well executed, but the end result is imitation rather than insight. I have to say, as a whole I found the exercise, well, pretentious. In the sense that someone is setting out to achieve something, overreaches and stumbles.

Can't help feeling that the real reason for my failure to derive pleasure and excitement here is that Scorsese's excellent documentary No Direction Home is still fresh in my memory. Ditto Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour broadcasts. Can't beat the genuine article.