Don't Look Back Film Review
D.A. Pennebaker's Documentary Captures the Legend of Bob Dylan
A compelling documentary that goes along for the ride during Bob Dylan's 1965 tour of England, Don't Look Back is an important and entertaining work.
D.A. Pennebaker's marvel of a documentary, Don't Look Back, is not as revealing a look into the mind of Bob Dylan as was Martin Scorsese's No Direction Home. But it does boast something of an advantage: a far more candid Dylan. Yes, he is playing to the cameras, but it's startling and bare to see him, seeming like an outward fire, caught onscreen in fluorescent black and white.
Background
Essentially, the film follows Dylan across his tour of England in 1965, beginning with his arrival in London to much fanfare all the way through his first concerts at the famed Royal Albert Hall. Along for the ride are Bob Neuwirth (who, together with Dylan, is hilarious), Albert Grossman (Dylan's manager), Joan Baez, and others.
Pennebaker’s second documentary attempt on Dylan, which morphed into Eat the Document, is a far more visceral experience; comparatively speaking, Don’t Look Back is a guttural one: Dylan and company are funny and immature, and obsessed with their own inner circle; and of course, there's the unfortunate Donovan, who gets skewered throughout in a playful though sardonic style.
Analysis
The highlights of the movie are undoubtedly the many press conferences and interviews, which range from both the friendly and curious to the professional and staid. In retrospect, it is easy to see the path Dylan took with his music and songwriting as logical, but the whirlwind of its progression was probably disorienting. And while the 1966 tour may have been more grueling and more legendary (yielding the infamous Judas heckler, captured in remarkable clarity on The Bootleg Series, Vol. 4), this tour shows the signs of the general alienation and anger that was to come on Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde on Blonde.
As such, it’s a more interesting document, to watch and know – in hindsight, of course – that Dylan is standing on the precipice of his most acclaimed works and yet he is not a superman, not a noble hero, and not a savior – regardless of whatever the press that dogged him might have said (and do say during the course of the movie).
Style
Speaking stylistically, Pennebaker's starch black and white is enveloping, as the general darkness invites you to enter the cerebral void of the happenings. Dylan is confrontational and unflinchingly direct – he answers questions by asking his own; he is awkward and belligerent at times, and openly critical.
All this is somewhat counter to how he is onstage. There are many clips shown of Dylan’s performances, and these are magnetic. Dylan's voice is hypnotic as he sings many of his protest songs, and some from Bringing It All Back Home, and here he seduces everyone with warmth and friendliness. After this, and really ever since, he has been oblique and evasive, but here he is raw and rough around the edges.
Conclusion
Don't Look Back is a portrait that doesn't decipher Bob Dylan but instead adds yet another layer to the legend. But it is one of the earliest to add to the myth, and as such it is a more alluring – and even more disturbing – picture, one that is sure to challenge anyone’s image of him. It's a must for serious fanatics, but it's just as good for a casual fan.
Rating: 5 out of 5
