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Bob Dylan’s art and image are at once rivetingly iconic and eternally elusive. Yet one aspect of his career remains underexplored: his appearances and depictions on screen. Since the mid-1960s, Dylan has been the subject of documentaries, an actor in feature films, and the auteur of his own film projects, as well as the inspiration for both traditional and unconventional biopics.
I’m Glad I’m Not Me explores Dylan on film, from D. A. Pennebaker’s direct cinema classic Dont Look Back to Martin Scorsese’s epic documentaries No Direction Home and Rolling Thunder Revue, and from his confounding feature Masked and Anonymous to the fractured mythology of Todd Haynes’s I’m Not There. Ethan Warren places these and other films, including a variety of overlooked, derided, and unmade projects, into conversation. He also considers Dylan’s music videos, from the MTV era to the streaming age, and paintings, which adapt stills from both classic and forgotten films. Tracing the evolution of Dylan’s on-screen persona, Warren casts the performer’s cinematic appearances as extensions of his lifelong project of creating an endlessly shapeshifting identity. Through this lens, I’m Glad I’m Not Me offers a new view of the life and work of one of the most influential yet least knowable celebrities in American history.
— Scott Peeples, author of How Many Roads: A Life of Bob Dylan
If there was ever any doubt, Ethan Warren’s captivating book dispels it: film has been central in forging that mythical figure, “Bob Dylan.” Warren leaves no stone unturned, lavishing attention on films by Dylan, about Dylan, and around Dylan. These range from Murray Lerner’s lean masterpiece Festival! (1967) to that loose, baggy monster Renaldo and Clara (1978); from D. A. Pennebaker’s verité classic Dont Look Back (1967) to Todd Haynes’s high-concept I’m Not There (2007). And yes, you can read about Timothée Chalamet too. In writing that is at once nimble and lyrical, Warren demonstrates over and again that the onscreen Dylan is every bit as beguiling, enigmatic, and (at times) exasperating as the one that lodges in our ears.
— Stephen Rings, author of What Did You Hear?: The Music of Bob Dylan
With brisk, stylish, and well-paced writing Warren offers a commendably accessible critical appraisal of Bob Dylan's cinematic work. By combining biographical insight with interpretive commentary, I'm Glad I'm Not Me takes a hybrid approach that feels fresh and distinctive, skillfully bridging the gap between fan engagement and scholarly analysis.
— Jonathan Hodgers, author of Bob Dylan on Film: The Intersection of Music and Visuals