'Masked and Anonymous' - Dylan's Movie

Subject: 'Masked and Anonymous' - Dylan's Movie
From: JJ
Date: 29 Jul 03 - 07:26 AM

Mr. Zimmerman is back in town. If the pleasant and inoffensive "A Mighty Wind" got hammered here, I can hardly wait to see the reactions to this one!

By the end of the credits at the 6:40 show last Saturday night there were only seven of us left at one of the four theatres in the US currently playing "Masked and Anonymous." There were about ten people waiting to come in for the next showing as I left. Over at rottentomatoes.com there is only one favorable review out of eighteen.

If it doesn't achieve the rarified heights of human folly that "Renaldo and Clara" did, "Masked and Anonymous," starring and with a screenplay co-authored (under a pseudonym) by the Son of Hibbing, certainly does its bit within its two-hour timeframe.

Any film that opens with a cover of "My Back Pages" sung in Japanese can't be accused of not laying its cards on the table. Dylan actually does perform a few numbers, so maybe you'd be better off with the CD. He looks like a dessicated Richard Boone, except when standing next to John Goodman, who is so much larger that he makes Dylan look like Shirley Temple.

Dylan is Jack Fate, Goodman is Uncle Sweetheart, Luke Wilson is Bobby Cupid, Jessica Lange is Nina Veronica, Jeff Bridges is Tom Friend; with a cameo cast including Angela Bassett, Mickey Rourke, Cheech Marin, Bruce Dern, Val Kilmer and Ed Harris (in blackface).

Included are strange jokes on such things as "Mrs Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter;" the world's only Jack Fate cover band, Simple Twist of Fate; "Like a Rolling Stone" sung in Italian; and Dr. Benway from "Naked Lunch."

What's it about? Damned if I know. That, as Pagan Lace (Penelope Cruz) says, is Open to Interpretation.

Subject: RE: 'Masked and Anonymous' - Dylan's Movie
From: alanabit
Date: 29 Jul 03 - 07:43 AM

Thanks for the warning. I shall just have to console myself with the fact that when Director Dylan produced his last celluloid turkey -"Renaldo and Clara" - he was also writing a lot of very fine songs.

Subject: RE: 'Masked and Anonymous' - Dylan's Movie
From: Pied Piper
Date: 29 Jul 03 - 08:28 AM

Some years ago now, I sat through the short 4-hour version of Renaldo and Clara, ooooeee pretty scary.
There was about 3/4 of an hour of great live footage from the Rolling Thunder tour, which I'd like to see again if some one screened it.
Incidentally I've just bought a CD of the gig at the Manchester Freetrade Hall in 66, ya know the one with the slow clapping and the "Judas". Some "Folkies" are really sad; the music is great but sadly over their heads.

Subject: RE: 'Masked and Anonymous' - Dylan's Movie
From: Little Hawk
Date: 29 Jul 03 - 03:13 PM

Ha! Ha! Yeah, I bet it's bloody awful. :-) God knows, "Hearts of Fire" certainly was, although I enjoyed the scenes with Bob anyway, cos he's like family to me, and I simply enjoyed seeing him onscreen. Why does Bob Dylan make the occasional movie? Probably simply because he wants to and can, I suspect. Does it really matter in the end whether or not they are good movies? Nope. It doesn't matter any more than what colour shirt I decide to wear today. I guess if you were really insecure about what people thought it would matter a lot...and you'd either play it safe and not do anything creative in the first place or else you'd do it and then have a nervous breakdown if people didn't like it. If I was in the position to make movies, I could probably put together a couple of pretty lame ones too, given my lack of experience in that field. Maybe I would. It would probably be an interesting experience. I wish there were more films available of some of his live musical performances. I've seen a few great concerts with that man, and missed a whole lot more of them along the way.

Why do people do creative stuff anyway? Is it because they need to express something inside or is it because they are seeking recognition and validation from others or it because they simply love doing it? Or is it all of those things? I know one thing...if you are seeking recognition or validation from others you'd best keep in mind that it's a two-edged sword and that it also quickly fades away. It's a fickle and passing thing, soon replaced by new and equally ephemeral things. It doesn't give you peace at the end of the day.

- LH

Subject: RE: 'Masked and Anonymous' - Dylan's Movie
From: GUEST
Date: 01 Aug 03 - 10:56 AM

Good news! A favorable review from a West Coast source has pushed the Rotten Tomatoes index to 11% (three favorable).

One reviewer mentions "John Goodman in an unbuttoned powder-blue tuxedo that makes him look like a '63 Cadillac with all its doors open."

This film will make a classic DVD evening, but go easy on the bong hits. It's hard enough to believe what you're seeing if you're straight.

Subject: RE: 'Masked and Anonymous' - Dylan's Movie
From: GUEST
Date: 01 Aug 03 - 11:41 AM

Does John Goodman have secret pictures of an executive producer in a compromising position with a farm animal? How else does he get to ruin so many movies!

Subject: RE: 'Masked and Anonymous' - Dylan's Movie
From: open mike
Date: 02 Aug 03 - 01:55 AM

there wqs a threaqd on this a couple of months ago
including links to a web site with clips of the
trailer...

Subject: RE: 'Masked and Anonymous' - Dylan's Movie
From: JJ
Date: 02 Aug 03 - 11:45 PM

OK, the film has opened in Boston, San Francisco and San Diego, where a couple of favorable notices pushed it up to 16% at Rotten Tomatoes.

I can't still be the only person who's actually SEEN the durn thing!

Subject: RE: 'Masked and Anonymous' - Dylan's Movie
From: alanabit
Date: 03 Aug 03 - 03:28 AM

For those who have not forgotten "Renaldo and Clara", you could well remain the only person to see it!

Subject: RE: 'Masked and Anonymous' - Dylan's Movie
From: JJ
Date: 03 Aug 03 - 07:21 AM

Hey, when the Museum of Television and Radio showed "Eat the Document" a few years ago, I went to see THAT!

(And if you thought "Renaldo and Clara" was impenetrable...)

Subject: RE: 'Masked and Anonymous' - Dylan's Movie
From: alanabit
Date: 03 Aug 03 - 08:00 AM

There's no accounting for tastes. Many people are willing to part with money in exchange for experiences which would cause me great discomfort if not actual suffering! Some folks do seem open for anything and I guess it's a better world for having them.

Subject: RE: 'Masked and Anonymous' - Dylan's Movie
From: Little Hawk
Date: 03 Aug 03 - 11:52 AM

Well, there's no chance whatsoever that it will play around here, so I guess I won't be seeing it. Nothing plays around here except the mainstream big-budget stuff.

Subject: RE: 'Masked and Anonymous' - Dylan's Movie
From: GUEST
Date: 05 Aug 06 - 09:02 PM

Okay, so I saw this in the previously viewed DVD section and coughed up the nine bucks. I have no idea what it was a about, but it had some great musical moments. His band, "Simple Twist of Fate" is his actual touring band. They do a wonderful Bluegrassy version of "Diamond Joe", a really nice version of "Dixie", a great version of "Down In The Flood" and some of Bob's newer stuff from 'Time Out Of Mind' & 'Love & Theft'. Those moments are really good. The only knock I have is that they would cut to dialogue during the songs and then back to the song. As the credits roll there is a really different version of Blowin' In The Wind. Only a verse or two, I'm not sure if he has ever released this version. I checked the Soundtrack CD listings and it's not on there.

Now, there is some very "interesting" covers. As mentioned above, the movie opens with a Japanese cover of "My Back Pages", then as the scene shifts they cut to the Ramones doing it. There are even more bizarre covers icluding a Rap version of 'Like A Rolling Stone' in Italian.

Wonderful cast. Bob sure ain't Brando. I guess if you're a Dylan nut you should see it just 'cuz. I will watch it again though, mainly for the music.

Subject: RE: 'Masked and Anonymous' - Dylan's Movie
From: Little Hawk
Date: 05 Aug 06 - 09:11 PM

I always enjoy seeing Bob. I suffered through the rest of "Hearts of Fire" just to see the specific scenes he was in, so I guess I can suffer through this one too. ;-)

Subject: RE: 'Masked and Anonymous' - Dylan's Movie
From: Steve Latimer
Date: 05 Aug 06 - 09:21 PM

Sorry, it was me who posted that I bought this. I didn't realize my cookie wasn't set.

Subject: RE: 'Masked and Anonymous' - Dylan's Movie
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 06 Aug 06 - 03:20 AM

like Buddy Holly said, Love is Strange...

and we all love Bob

Subject: RE: 'Masked and Anonymous' - Dylan's Movie
From: alanabit
Date: 06 Aug 06 - 03:56 AM

What really needed doing with "Renaldo and Clair", was to edit out all the scripted/improvised clalptrap and to restore the concert footage properly. The "concept" of the film was stupid and irrelevant from the start. The film should never have been made. Listening to Joan Baez and other cosmic twits wittering away about their star signs wasted my time and that of every other sucker, who paid to watch that film. There was superb concert footage available of the ragged, but at times inspired Rolling Thunder Review touring band, which was led by the excellent Mick Ronson.
I am going to challenge the premise of Little Hawk's imitial post, because I do not think that expensive experiments by dillettantes in the field of film making are justified at all. Even a low budget film requires a lot of logistical support and many weeks of patient work by a large team of highly accomplished people. To waste their time and talents to appease the ego of an amateur is not justified in the slightest. When Bob Dylan writes a rotten song, he wastes a bit of paper and an hour or two of his own time. Wasting weeks of other people's time - most especially when they are highly accomplished within their own medium - smacks of selfishness.