Masked and Anonymous (2003)
Harry Knowles: I wonder how bad
this film is going to suck?
Harry Knowles' Dad: It's got
a lot of stars in it.
Harry Knowles: Yeah, it got a
lot of talent to suck.
This exchange, overheard at a press
sneak for the new Bob Dylan film "Masked and Anonymous"
in Austin at the Dobie Theater early one August morning
made me glad that I am not the type of person who
gets too intensely involved in the advanced hype for
a film. After all, just hearing a bunch about "Gigli"
before I saw it made me expect the worst and allow
myself to be pleasantly surprised by the film. I think
the exchange above did the same. Knowing Harry expected
it to suck allowed me to see the film with an open
mind already ready to forgive it. And, trust me, there's
much to forgive here.
Dylan plays, rather poorly, a character
named, supposedly ironically, Jack Fate. There's a
lot of supposed irony in the film and much of it comes
in the references to the real Dylan's own similarities
to the character. (Many of Dylan's own lyrics also
act as dialogue). The script is credited to two unknowns,
causing some Internet pundits to assume Dylan and
director Larry Charles had a hand in writing the script.
It certainly does mirror Dylan's own life and career
in some ways. But it is the asides, the poetic soliloquies
of the film, that seem like they may have been penned
by Dylan. Many of theses take the form of "the more
I live the less I know" rhetoric.
Dylan's character is a musician,
and Dylan only wows us here when he plays and sings.
In the plot, Dylan's Fate is magically released from
some odd prison in order to headline a benefit concert
in an unnamed South American country where civil war
rages. The concert, like the revolution, will be televised.
This simple premise, in addition to allowing for numerous
philosophical and poetic dissertations, also allows
for a plethora of supporting characters and this,
in turn, allows for a veritable who's who on the cast
list. No less that John Goodman, Jeff Bridges, Jessica
Lange (Bridges' "King Kong" co-star), and Luke Wilson
have pretty meaty roles alongside Dylan. Meanwhile
Penelope Cruz, Steven Bauer, Angela Bassett, Bruce
Dern, Ed Harris, Chris Penn, Christian Slater, Val
Kilmer, Cheech Marin, Mickey Rourke, Fred Ward and
Giovanni Ribisi have smaller but often essential roles
as well. Susan Tyrell, Tracey Walter and Dan Frischman
(Arvid on TV's "Head of the Class") have small cameos
but don't really get to do much. Of all of this talent,
truly only Goodman, Lange and Ribisi stand out. Goodman
may be playing a character like many he has played
for the Coen Brothers but that doesn't stop him from
being phenomenal. Lange has her best role in eons.
And Ribisi steals the movie in a stunning extended
aside that is bathed in pathos which has an emotional
resonance that lingers long after Kilmer has wrecked
what little was left of his career in the next scene.
If there is one thing to laud about the acting here,
it is Ribisi.
Director Larry Charles, who has
made a career up to this point in television, most
notably as a writer/producer on "Seinfeld," does an
adequate job here. His cinematic instincts may be
a little flat and his use of the camera may be somewhat
standard but he peoples his film with interesting
characters and then provides a backdrop of modern
chaos for them to act within. His graffitied locales
and trash-strewn sets make for devastating pictures.
The look of the film, when it comes to art direction
(not cinematography) consistently echoes the ideals
and images of the plot and dialogue. We see a world
in glorious decay here, reflecting the character and
ideals of Jack Fate, sometimes painted in the amazing
hues of spray paint graffiti but almost always highlighted
and kept alive by the image of debris in motion, a
world in flux with its setting lain to waste yet still
inhabitable. Visually, when it comes to the literal
world these characters inhabit, the film is often
as poetic as the dialogue.
I can see Dylan fans really digging
this movie. It's steeped in mirror images of his own
career and the dialogue cascades in poetic Dylanesque
waterfalls of language that are often as deep and
thoughtful as they are silly and pretentious. And
then there is his musical numbers which have more
to do with what the film is about than anything else.
Dylan may be a wordsmith in the order of a modern
Shakespeare but it is his raspy nasal whine, here
soaked, presumably like his life, in whiskey and sorrow,
that makes the film perk up out of its pretense and
grab at our attention. Dylan's music may have evolved
as much as the man has but it still packs a wallop.
And whether he is thundering out new songs for the
film or serenading us with his melancholy version
of the old standard "Dixie," we take note of the man
as musician. We see the glint in his eye and hear
the catch in his throat that has made his career in
the world of music, politics, spirituality, and now
film, something relevant and worth taking note of.
Notes:
Also with Austin musician Charlie
Sexton (remember "Beat So Lonely?") as one of Fate's
bandmates.
Many of the actors in the film worked
for scale.
The Internet Movie Database credits
the script to Dylan and Charles and lists the credited
screenwriters names are their pseudonyms.
The only really recognizable Dylan
songs from his catalogue that are represented here
are "The Times They Are A-Changing" which is sung
by a little girl and "Like a Rolling Stone" which
is sampled in a modern rap song.
The film premiered at Sundance 2003.
Shot on digital video.
The version I saw at the press screening
in Austin at the Dobie in August 2003 was a digital
projection version. 35mm prints were used for most
screenings for the public.
