The musical bio-pic has been a genre treated very well the last couple of years because filmmakers know that a musician’s life story, told right, is a license to print Oscars, or at the very least some awards buzz. The typical plot line for biographical film though sounds very much like the time on Family Guy when Stewie berated Brian’s progress on his ever nascent novel: “Yeah, talking about that three years ago, huh? Been working on that the whole time? Nice little, uh, narrative--beginning, middle, and end? Some friends become enemies, some enemies become friends? Yeah? At the end your, uh, main character is, uh, richer for the experience?”

The new Bob Dylan bio-pic I’m Not There delights in flaunting convention. It is not a straight forward narrative, if you can even call what unfolds on screen a narrative at all. Six different actors play six different aspects of Dylan representing an artistic period in the life of the singer/songwriter/prophet/folk god. Cat Blanchett, Ben Whishaw, Christian Bale, Richard Gere, Marcus Carl Franklin and Heath Ledger all have different names and personalities that make up one monumental figure and if you didn’t know in advance, you’d almost never suspect that Bob Dylan was their root personality.

I’m Not There leans heavy on metaphorical storytelling and the assumption that you know who everyone is and where they sit in the grand scheme of the popular culture at the time. Now I have to admit I’m one of those. I love Dylan’s music, a small collection of it sits permanently in my iPod, but I don’t know the ins and outs of his inspiration and his artistic ebbs and flows. This probably limited by enjoyment of the movie somewhat which explains why I’m not gushing with praise like more established (read: older) critics who “get it” as Stephen Colbert would say.

Still, it would be a lie to say that I didn’t enjoy this movie at all. I was captivated the whole time with the shifting between actors, settings, dramas, styles and time periods. Blanchett stands out surprisingly as the most Dylanesque, playing the tortured artist trying to get people out of the habit of reading so deeply into his music. Ledger and Bale are good channelling the rock star elements of the tale and Franklin demonstrates a lot of wisdom beyond his years, holding up his end despite being at least 20 to 25 years younger than most of the rest of the chorus.

Another intriguing thing about the film is the great lengths that filmmaker Todd Haynes (Far From Heaven) goes to creating as rich a tapestry around the actors as the actors create in themselves. Each time period and each Dylan fits perfectly in world designed and shot for them. Ledger’s Robbie Clark is anchored in the 70s-style production design and the tanned cinematography of the same era. Blanchett’s Jude Quinn is covered in 60s cool black and white, while Gere’s Billy the Kid is filmed in a grainy western filter that makes the film look beat-up. It must have been time consuming to execute, but it’s brilliant to watch unfold as well.

Even if you don’t get the historical or cultural subtext, I think that there’s a lot to enjoy in I’m Not There. It is at the very least fascinating to watch as you try to follow the rebounding, time-shifting nature of the story and you may never make heads or tails of it, but you’re guaranteed to be still thinking about it a while after the credits roll. Note to self: read a book about Dylan and revisit the film on DVD.