When Masked and Anonymous was released. The critics lined up to savage the movie. One of them listed the amount of Oscar nominations the cast of the movie had. That has only grown over the years with Jeff Bridges and Penelope Cruz subsequently becoming Oscar winners.
This is a divisive experimental movie with improvisation and a non conventional approach. It has acquired a cult reputation over the years.
The central figure of the movie is Bob Dylan. He plays plays Jack Fate, a once famous folk singer who has been imprisoned in what looks like a South American dictatorship going through a civil war or it might just be an alternative America.
Out of prison mainly because of cynical, greedy and desperate concert promoter Uncle Sweetheart (John Goodman) and television producer Nina Veronica (Jessica Lange.) They want Fate to play a televised benefit concert to help war victims. Unfortunately they cannot afford to get star names and they also plan to cream off the proceeds of the benefit concert to deal with their own financial problems.
The movie is about Fate's journey to the concert and after he gets there. Cynical journalist Tom Friend (Jeff Bridges) wants to provoke Fate. He shows up with his ultra religious girlfriend, Pagan Lace (Penelope Cruz). Fate hooks up with former bandmate Bobby Cupid (Luke Wilson) who still thinks Fate has what it takes and is willing to protect him from distractors.
There are plenty of actors making cameo appearances with oblique cod philosophical speeches. Val Kilmer as an animal wrangler who mentions that human beings are masked and anonymous. Ed Harris appears as a ghost in blackface.
Oddly it works. Mainly because a lot of it is about Bob Dylan himself and his mythology. Dylan is not much of an actor but it's about Dylan the singer. It features his songs but they are sung by others. Tom Friend teases Fate for not taking part in Woodstock and goes on length about Jimi Hendrix.
Critics hated the movie because it had a self indulgent plot. That is the movie's main calling card. It's a wayward film but Dylan has made his own Magical Mystery Tour.
This is a divisive experimental movie with improvisation and a non conventional approach. It has acquired a cult reputation over the years.
The central figure of the movie is Bob Dylan. He plays plays Jack Fate, a once famous folk singer who has been imprisoned in what looks like a South American dictatorship going through a civil war or it might just be an alternative America.
Out of prison mainly because of cynical, greedy and desperate concert promoter Uncle Sweetheart (John Goodman) and television producer Nina Veronica (Jessica Lange.) They want Fate to play a televised benefit concert to help war victims. Unfortunately they cannot afford to get star names and they also plan to cream off the proceeds of the benefit concert to deal with their own financial problems.
The movie is about Fate's journey to the concert and after he gets there. Cynical journalist Tom Friend (Jeff Bridges) wants to provoke Fate. He shows up with his ultra religious girlfriend, Pagan Lace (Penelope Cruz). Fate hooks up with former bandmate Bobby Cupid (Luke Wilson) who still thinks Fate has what it takes and is willing to protect him from distractors.
There are plenty of actors making cameo appearances with oblique cod philosophical speeches. Val Kilmer as an animal wrangler who mentions that human beings are masked and anonymous. Ed Harris appears as a ghost in blackface.
Oddly it works. Mainly because a lot of it is about Bob Dylan himself and his mythology. Dylan is not much of an actor but it's about Dylan the singer. It features his songs but they are sung by others. Tom Friend teases Fate for not taking part in Woodstock and goes on length about Jimi Hendrix.
Critics hated the movie because it had a self indulgent plot. That is the movie's main calling card. It's a wayward film but Dylan has made his own Magical Mystery Tour.