Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Movie Review: Masked and Anonymous

I'm almost sure this movie is good. If it is good, it's because it hangs in that place were it exists in it's own world. Also, this movie can be best described as someone trying to make a movie out of a Bob Dylan song, not any praticular Bob Dylan song, but whatever this movie is about Bob Dylan has something important to do with it. This is due to the fact Bob Dylan co-wrote and acts in the film.
The basic plot of the film is that Bob Dylan, AKA Jack Fate, AKA Bob Dylan has been released from prison to do a benefit concert, a shaddy benefit concert, but still he's out of prison. Fate lives in what looks like something that is kind of the United States, but has a feel like a South American Bananna Republic. After that all the characters talk they way you'd expect characters to talk in a movie co-wrote by Bob Dylan (it's great), a pretty good soundtrack featuring Bob Dylan songs is played (it's great), encounter various characters bouncing off each other (it's alright), and a bunch of scenes involving political and philsophical discourse.
In all this, I like this movie. This is probubly because I'm a Bob Dylan fan, and despite the fact this is a very minor movie I feel compelled to it because this is more or less the kind of feel I want for the Naos and Helen novel. It's the same basic world, has the same feel and also Bob Dylan is in it. This must be what William Gibson felt after seeing Blade Runner. Because of this alone I'd put Masked and Anonymous up there with The Big Lebowski as one of my favorite movies. (Interesting note, both Jeff Bridges and John Goodman appear in this movie).
To end off I'm putting up this youtube video which has Bob Dylan and his back-up band singing "Cold Irons Bound," another reason to see this movie.

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