Delayed Reaction: Don't Look Back

Premise: A film crew follows Bob Dylan around for an English tour in 1965.

 

This movie made me feel really old. Which is weird. The movie came out 20 years before I was born. It's in black-and-white. That should make me feel like a baby, but that's not what happened. You see, I listened to Bob Dylan go on different rants and musings for 90 minutes, and my main thought was "Will someone shut this kid up?"

 

Look. I'm a Bob Dylan fan. I think he's one of the most important musicians of the 20th century. He's a gifted songwriter and an important cultural icon. His longevity and versatility are underappreciated. But, I wanted nothing more than for him to stop talking throughout this movie. He's kind of a dick. He bloviates constantly. It's like being on any college campus, listening to a 20-something who took his first philosophy or sociology class talk about profound topics he thinks he discovered. It's definitely a great example of the difference between being smart and being clever. The Times interview where Dylan goes off on the reporter: Dylan is making some smart points. He's not actually outfoxing the reporter though.

 

Other than the fact that I came away from this with the old man wish for Dylan to just "shut up and sing", I did quite enjoy this. The few performances were solid. I really love Dylan shutting Donovan down. The movie is a nice reminder of Dylan's situation. Everyone is always expecting him to be profound, and that's a lot to put on him. I had a teacher once who pointed out that Dylan went through the same fame as The Beatles but he did it alone. That takes a toll. Maybe The Beatles grew to dislike one another, but they always had someone else who knew what they were going through. It's a nice reminder why stars like Michael Jackson or Britney Spears have these breakdowns. Don't Look Back in its own way captures some of that. In terms of older documentaries, this is a good one, because it's a different view of celebrity life in that era than I normally see.

 

Verdict: Weakly Recommend