Don't Look Back

Saw Don't Look Back, a behind-the-scenes film which follows Bob Dylan on a British concert tour. Shot on sincere and intimate grainy black and white, it takes place mostly in boozy 3 am hotel rooms and in tight phone booths, cribbing from BBC reporters. The film opens with us overhearing interviewers asking Bob where he came from, what makes him sing? We hear one reporter tut into a phone that Bob's young audience probably doesn't understand the full meaning of his words. These are sort of running themes in the conversations captured in the film.

The most interesting bits of the film for me were the verbal sparring sessions Bob would have with reporters. Reporters would riddle him about his stance on religion or politics and although Bob does respond candidly to Times magazine, he would more often retreat into complicated word games. His favorite trick is to ask them to define every word. "Do you care very much about people?" "Well we mean different things by those words 'people', 'care'. What are people? What does it mean to care?" This is a good trick because either he'll get away with answering a very simple question ("there are people I care about") or the reporter will have to spend tons of time defining common words (and the words used in these definitions of course must be defined.) One poor young dude falls into this second trap. Bob successfully turns the interview around and quizzes the reporter on what a 'friend' is, on what he feels he's contributing to the world. It feels cruel, but Bob's smiling down at him as they talk. I get the sense that this is really interesting and valuable to him.

There's also screaming fans and nice, echoing, maze-like backstages. There's some weird business with the actual Sheriff of Nottingham's wife, and Bob losing his cool over someone throwing a glass off a balcony (which, to be fair, is a dick move,) and endless pot-shots at Donovan. Interesting little film about a guy I know little about. A bit too intimate and quiet for me, but an interesting little trip.