Some people might say that happened 40 years ago when he went electric. Others might contend that it happened just last year when Dylan (strangely, frighteningly) appeared in a Victoria’s Secret commercial. And if his new memoir Chronicles Vol. 1 didn’t do it, this surely has pushed him over the top. Mr. Sell Out.
Well not really, but that’s what a lot of people seem to be worrying about. Will the myth be unmasked? Will the ever-elusive song-writing genius tell his tales? The movie focuses on the pre-1966 Dylan as his career glides along, shifting gears seamlessly from an adolescent in Minnesota’s Iron Range to the Village coffeehouse folkie and finally into the megastar of rock and roll that he becomes.
The movie uses Dylan’s famed 1966 performances in Europe as a touchstone, continually flashing back to a disconnected Dylan belting out “Like a Rolling Stone.” The footage, much of it from D.A. Pennebaker’s infamous unreleased “Eat the Document,” is harrowing, as we are shown a Dylan who is at-once on top of the world in his talents and at rock bottom with many of his fans (the now-famous “Judas” cry being an example).
The storyline begins in his hometown of Hibbing, Minnesota, where a classmate remembers Dylan’s failed talent show appearance – the principal pulled the curtain down in the middle of his performance. Next, Dylan travels to the University of Minnesota, which apparently did nothing for him. “I didn’t go to classes. I was enrolled. But I just didn’t feel like it. I didn’t have time for studying,” he recalled. But before you praise him for championing his beliefs, realize that smoking a joint and strumming a guitar doesn’t always lead to selling 20-million records.
The scenes of the early folk musicians begin to show us something new, something original. Scorsese and his team dug up some rare footage of figures such as Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger and Dave Van Ronk. This movie offers the most complete list of Dylan’s early influences while portraying Dylan as a man hounded by the media and ridiculed by his fans at every turn.
We see Dylan in a rare state of openness, willing to answer many questions that he might have laughed off years earlier, but still guarded. He still has no answer for why he chose the name Dylan (His birth name is Robert Zimmerman). “For that I cannot say,” said Dylan. “There isn’t really an answer.”
Are we to believe him? Who knows! Who really cares? Nevertheless, he keeps his shades on and (luckily) doesn’t ruin all of the mystery surrounding his fame. Maybe we can save the sell-out title for somebody else.