12 Comments

The movie was truly wonderful and Chalamet brilliant in every mannerism and vocalization.

Wouldn’t it be a beautiful coda if Bob did a show in Israel and ended it with an encore of Masters of War

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outstanding take. I loved this movie…LOVED IT. reminded me, once again, of the power of art and artists and how intensely musicians eschew genre. I can’t wait to see it again.

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I caught the film Saturday with my wife who hasn’t always loved my lifelong relationship with Zimmy. She completely enjoyed the biopic and has been walking around our house singing The Times they are a Changin’ for two days straight. She was even willing to watch the classic ‘84 footage from Letterman, when Bob had just released Infidels. That performance, with the Plugz as his backing band, is surely one of the best live TV outings of all time. At least for me, anyway. 💰https://youtu.be/1HzRdt22ZEQ?si=RSxIYsVTCcrM5zji

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My wife really dug it, too. Haven't gotten to the Plugz with her yet, but she did watch 'Don't Look Back' with me, and she, a Gemini like Dylan, gets where he comes from, to say the least.

I wrote a little bit about that Letterman moment a while back:

https://www.michael-elliott.com/p/from-the-archive-dylan-plugz-in-big

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Don’t Look Back is one of my all-time faves. I’ve got the original VHS ditty. As an obsessive Dylan freak, I bought the Criterion version when it came out. I’ve watched that one with my loving wife as well (and I’ve also dragged her through Renaldo & Clara, Scorsese’s Rolling Thunder Review, and the PBS documentary No Direction Home). My husbandly duty, I suppose. And don’t get me going on the ‘74 box set.

In the end, a good 2024 on the Zimmerman front.

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Indeed!

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I feel the same way--and I went into this like a grouch who wasn't sure of he wanted to go to the party. I have a post on this coming soon and one of my jokes in it is that, in this era of de-aging technology, they should make movies in which the actor actually ages with the part, so James Mangold can make a dozen other Bob movies and Timothée Chalamet can lock in a contract to work until he is Bob's current age of 83. Your sequel ideas are hilarious. Best for 2025 with Swamp Rock and one of the best Substacks out there.

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Thank you, sir! Yes, that was my thought exactly. Timmy can age right along with the character(s) he portrays. Same for Monica Barbaro’s Joan.

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Thanks for the encouragement. I’m on all fours about experiencing biopics with the heart. It’s too bad that Ken Burns will never get around to make all the documentary biographies we’d like to see.

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No Direction Home, to me, is still the definitive Dylan doc, followed very closely by Don’t Look Back.

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Thanks so much for this review, and the link to the other ones. I generally enjoy biopics most when I don't know all the real life details and thus am less aware of the factual inaccuracies, composite characters and artistic license taken to move the story along. If I DO know all the details, that kind of thing can drive me crazy and make me dislike the film.

Since I know the Dylan story pretty well, I've had real misgivings about seeing this one even though I absolutely know that I will - so going into it knowing what all 3 of these positive reviews tell me really helps! I'm prepared to put aside my nitpicking scholarly side and just enjoy it, sounds like a fine piece of filmmaking.

"Talkin' new Bob Dylan biopic blues" - Great subheading!

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So, about those extra additions…Netflix? Amazon?

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