The film critic Roger Ebert takes in Todd Haynes’ unconventional Bob Dylan biopic, “I’m Not There” at the Toronto Film Festival, and comes away impressed.

And if we’re discussing performances, let us now praise “I’m Not There,” a film about a famous man, Bob Dylan. Todd Haynes (”Far from Heaven”) takes an enormous risk and makes a brilliant, if seemingly impossible, film starring six actors as the mysterious cultural icon. Who is Dylan? How many selves does he have? Why are we so fascinated by such questions?

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The more Dylanology you know, the more references you’ll catch, although the film mostly works even without expertise on Dylan; the great man authorized use of his songs and performances throughout the movie, and turns up briefly at the end (although, dazzled by so many other Dylans, you may miss the real thing).

I think it may be of interest to compare this to his review of Dylan’s own film “Masked and Anonymous” from 2003 — a film with which he was not so impressed.

Bob Dylan idolatry is one of the enduring secular religions of our day. Those who worship him are inexhaustible in their fervor, and every enigmatic syllable of the great poet is cherished and analyzed as if somehow he conceals profound truths in his lyrics, and if we could only decrypt them, they would be the solution to–I dunno, maybe everything.

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Perhaps Dylan’s genius is to take simple ideas and make them impenetrable. Since he cannot really sing, there is the assumption that he cannot be performing to entertain us, and that therefore there must be a deeper purpose.

For what it’s worth.

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Addendum: Lauren Daly, who sounds like a broadminded Dylan fan, has written an article on why she’s not going to go see “I’m Not There” — at least not in the theater. In any case, the film is going to have to appeal beyond the hardcore Dylan fanbase in order to really succeed. Ebert’s review suggests that it could do just that.

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