Jackthemovielover

Very entertaining look at the times, the loves, and the early career of Bob Dylan. Portrays the cultural times he lived in, his romantic interests and relationship troubles, and his career from the start in NY City to his break with folk in the mid 1960s. The four leading actors were excellent in their roles, but I'd have to give the top rating to Ed Norton, for his nuanced, sincere portrayal of the complex person of Pete Seeger. The only improvement would be better spoken dialogue audio tracks, as the lines were sometimes muddled or not clear. The music tracks were outstanding, though, and all lyrics were clear.

This film should remain relevant for many decades for portraying Dylan's role in the large societal and political shifts during the 1960s. His lyrics were exactly timely and captured the mood of that period of American history. This was mainly the movement of the baby boomers, but those too young for that will learn about these times from watching the film. The film is perhaps especially relevant now, as there is a counter-evolutionary force in politics, which would seek to take us backward rather than forward. Seeger never lost his optimism, and Dylan drove progress forward. We would all do well to keep their spirit alive as inspiration.

A very fine movie overall, displaying good use of the talents of the cast and crew. Many nice touches add to the interest and entertainment value, e.g. Lines delivered in Latin with subtitles in English. Very approachable presentation. I especially liked the audio work, as the lines were easier to hear and understand than in many other recent films, and the score was very effective. The characters and staging may have been sanitized a bit to appeal to a wider audience. A more gritty, realistic portrayal would have been an interesting alternative here. This film should be especially entertaining to those who take in interest in the evolution of the Papacy through new popes, showing the changing understanding of how to interpret Christ's teachings in the modern world. Definitely see this if you have strong opinions about the choices the Church makes in selecting popes. Non Catholics will also enjoy this look at how the sausage is made, and we don't see this inside perspective often. The only comparable film recently was "The Two Popes," which was a more cordial story. The present film is more about the intrigue and Machiavellian behavior in the College of Cardinals. The climax of the plot is near the end, but it's well worth the wait, and quite unpredictable.

A riveting story of emotional relationships within a dysfunctional family. The excellent acting of the son and father characters makes their pain, estrangement, and attempts at reconciliation vivid, so well that anyone who has lived through a dysfunctional family growing up should feel the pain and repressed emotions of the story. The strained communication between the father and son is very believable and hard, at times, to watch. Details like the father's interest in radio over his son, make the story even more sad and powerful. The two actors do an outstanding job. Other actors in the cast are also good.

The movie has the potential to be great, but it is limited by a couple issues. First, most of the key information to understand what happened is concentrated near the end of the plot, making it hard to comprehend all the turns in their lives, unless, perhaps one watched the film several times. Second, the flashbacks and forwards are used excessively, and many times without clues to fix their place in time. Better editing and indicators in the script or visually might have made these easier to track, or maybe partly unnecessary. These limitations are due to the writing, direction, and editing. The actors still do very professional work with their parts. Had the sequence over time been easier to follow, I would have rated the film higher.