Masked and Anonymous (2003)

The Heroic Bob Dylan now also as a Movie Hero

Masked and Anonymous (2003)
Writers: Bob Dylan (written by) &
Larry Charles (written by)

I did not know I had this movie. Sorting through old DVDs I found 5 movies starring Penelope Cruz. Then I looked more closely at the cover art - there he was - the living legend - Bob Dylan starring in a movie of his own (directed by Seinfeld director).

That was enough reason for anyone to watch this movie. Dylan starring as Jack Fate - an old forgotten heroic musician lost to the modern era. He is brought back on stage by a hustling friend (Goodman) who is organising a charity where none of the big stars want to play. Damn all LiveAids and the rest. This is in a country unknown with a war not understood at an unspecified year.

Now the fabulous star cast that bring more vigour to the solid presence of Dylan himself:
Bob Dylan ... Jack Fate
Jeff Bridges ... Tom Friend
Penélope Cruz ... Pagan Lace
John Goodman ... Uncle Sweetheart
Jessica Lange ... Nina Veronica
Luke Wilson ... Bobby Cupid
Angela Bassett ... Mistress
Steven Bauer ... Edgar
Michael Paul Chan ... Guard
Bruce Dern ... Editor
Ed Harris ... Oscar Vogel
Val Kilmer ... Animal Wrangler
Cheech Marin ... Prospero
Chris Penn ... Crew Guy #2
Giovanni Ribisi ... Soldier


They all are perfect in their characters.
I didn't recognise Mickey Rourke as the President's son and heir. But I recognised his voice of course - am a fan of that guy or rather the crazy people he plays in his movies.


So you think it is too heavily loaded with superstars to make it work?

Well the question you need to ask is :
Do you love every single Bob Dylan song he has ever written?

Affirmative!

The appeal of the movie is to people to whom his songs speak to. He sings about You, about Everyone. The movie has the same USP. And there are Dylan songs galore here even before they were released in Album format.

When the movie started with the legend's songs being covered by pop/hiphop style versions as background music I must say I was outraged. But these are good cover versions. And then of course Jack Fate (Dylan) is recruited to do the charity gig and he sings.........

Live Dylan and there are other beauties. Jessica as the stressed out media exec and Penelope as Jeff Bridges' Jesus fearing lady.

Incredible movie magic as Dylan kicks Jeff Bridges' a$$ to protect the hustler friend. Dylan floors him easily and the climax makes you ponder the futility of all Life everywhere.


There are incredible monologues in this movie. The one by Val Kilmer is an acting lesson and work of genius.

Then those by Dylan and then him reminiscing the horrible past and dead present.

Then there is that weird radio Jessica listens to which gives out News about discovering things at the Earth's crust and how hollow Earth's soul really is.

Yes Philosophy or Abstract Art - whatever you call it - its mesmerising and captivating.

Visit Wikipedia page to check out the fab music in this treasure of a movie:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masked_and_Anony mous

At IMDB:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0319829/ June 22, 2008

Bob Dylan Fans Unite!

This was a suprise film for me! Definitely chalked full of Bob Dylan's abstract point of views, and all that with his music underlying the story...cool little retreat. The guest appearances by some of the well known actors are very fun...and the rolls they play make you sit back and think...what the hell? Which is totally Dylan, and totally fun. Everytime I watch the film, I pick up on something, or some little spoken ditty that I missed before. April 7, 2008

Mad and Ridiculous

Bob Dylan, Jeff Bridges, Penelope Cruz, John Goodman, Jessica Lange, Luke Wilson, Angela Bassett, Bruce Dern, Ed Harris, Val Kilmer, Cheech Marin, Chris Penn, Giovanni Ribisi, Christian Slater - among others. With a blockbuster cast like that it's got to be good, right? Wrong. This movie is, to paraphrase Churchill's description of Russia, a train wreck wrapped inside a catastrophe. The fun is seeing all those stars. The regret is seeing all that talent squandered. It's like one of those dreadful Altman movies where you spend all your time going, "Oh my God, that's xyz," because actors love him so much they're willing to play hotel clerks, meter maids, and lavatory attendants. The same force is at work here. Dylan has so much juice that terrific actors jumped at the opportunity to work for peanuts and failed to notice that the concept, script, and direction were staggeringly awful.

This said, there are moments, and appropriately enough, they are always isolated. If you enjoy painfully self-conscious, intentionally murky art house soliloquies, meaningless twaddle disguised as deeply poetic reasoning - and who doesn't? - you'll be pleased. Ribisi, as a soldier who changes sides as often as you or I might change clothes, delivers the best one, followed by Kilmer who has a Walken-esque gift for deranged, disturbing characters. Bridges is convincing as a nihilistic, alcoholic journalist whose abrasive, narcissistic pursuit of Dylan must have been very amusing to these insiders, accustomed as they are to fleeing from this type. The absolute lack of plot and character provided some participants with motivation to act, presumably in hopes of causing something to happen. In addition to Bridges, Goodman and Lange give it the old school try. By contrast, Dylan seems to be sleepwalking through the entire effort, expressing absolutely no emotional range whatsoever. Perhaps, since everyone else can do a good Bob Dylan impression, he didn't feel the need to do a good one himself.

Larry Charles shoulders the directorial shame, and shares the writing shame with Dylan. A generous soul might say that some of the alleged third world footage (actually L.A.) shares the same stream of conscious feeling one gets from Dylan's better songs, jarring imagery, disjointed, haunting thoughts. A generous soul might say that the twin themes of social revolution and musical posturing manipulated by the media says a great deal about where pop culture stands today as opposed to where it stood when we all believed that the times really were a changing. A generous soul might. But that generous soul ain't me. Babe. November 19, 2007

Nice box, eh?

A pal of mind once told me I should see this really great documentary about Bob Dylan. He said it was called Masked and Anonymous. So I ordered the thing. Much to my surprise, when the DVD arrived, and upon studying the box, I saw it was not a documentary. It was a drama. What the hell, I thought, and then looked around to see if anyone was watching. I have not, as yet, recovered from the shock of this discovery, but when I do I intend to watch the drama.Until then the only thing I can comment on is the box. It's a nice one. November 1, 2007

Times nave been a-changing backwards lately

Bob Dylan is not always very well inspired these days. To invest his song and music in a fictitious Latin American situation with a dying general dictator, a civil war without any ideology, some dumb sharks trying to exploit some artists to organize a free concert in support of ... of what? It tries to show how Latin America is rotten, how our times have changed so much that we have lost all ethical ideology, how show business is meaningless, how even a revolutionary guerilla warfare has no real ideological objective and yet the film sets some religious objectives to this revolution. And it all ends in a fiasco. Bob Dylan is no great actor and that is not new. His music are interesting but this film is betraying them 100%.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine & University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne
July 13, 2007

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