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Masked & Anonymous (2003)
Director:
Larry Charles
Genre:
Drama
Studio:
Sony Pictures Classics
For more information, head to Movies.com.
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In an interview last year, Larry Charles claimed he had made his living as young comedy writer selling jokes outside L.A. comedy clubs and touring the country with a friend doing standup wearing a green foam suit.
Of course he also claimed the film was written by two non-existent screenwriters, so that could be straight horse manure for all we know.
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Somewhere in the long stretch between Vegas and Denver (let's say just outside Beaver City, Utah) you curl up in the backseat of your friend's car, still sort of reeling from hours of craps, cocktails, and copious hedonism in The City That Never Stops Sinnin'.
One of your travel companions pops in "Blood on the Tracks," the Bob Dylan CD you've heard oh, 8,000 times, between the jukeboxes and parties and road trips and hangover Sunday coffee shop runs.
As you drift off to sleep, the occasionally incoherent mumblings of the man who turned the Beatles on to the introspective powers of THC (and Amen for that) leaves you sound asleep, wafting through disconnected images of dangerously sensual women, perilous rainstorms, life and death poker, and bad bad men. The dream seems almost nonsensical save for crystal clear moments of pristine lucidity.
"Masked and Anonymous," the vast, rambly Dylan film from Larry Charles (writer/director on Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Tick, and Dilbert) gets released on DVD this month, bringing that sort of surreal, strangely familiar montage to the screen. Roundly panned by critics and ignored by the movie-going public, the film is an intriguingly surreal venture into the mind of one of America's most legendarily cryptic singer/songwriters.
"Masked" credits two unknown scribes, Renee Fontaine and Sergei Petrov, for the screenplay - a playful wink wink nudge nudge from Charles and Dylan himself, the film's actual writers. The fairly obvious use of pseudonyms was lost on countless film critics who watched the film at its Sundance screening (or simply regurgitated plot synopsis from press materials), but will clearly not be lost on audiences familiar with Dylan’s lexicon of folk legends (and Charles' flair for genius-level comedy).
We interviewed Larry Charles last year as he visited Chicago to promote the film. Clad in an old faded long-sleeve T, pajama bottoms, a free-flowing mane of hair, and appropriately unshaven face, he lounged on a couch at the Ritz Carlton sporting the confidence and demeanor of a man who has been able to succeed wildly within the entertainment world on exactly his own terms.
He talked about working with Dylan (aka Sergei) on the film:
"When Renee and Sergei were writing screenplay for this film, they were sitting in a little room with bare walls and Sergei was in the corner, chain smoking. Sergei would come up with a line and Renee would be like, 'No way, man. I don't care who you are. Nobody's going to understand what you're saying.' Sergei (aka Bob) said, 'So? Who says there's anything wrong with being misunderstood?' "
"That made sense to me – and I kind of tried to make this film with that in mind – it should sort of just wash over the audience, and hopefully they’ll get something new and different from it every time."
In addition to Dylan, the film features Hollywood icons like Jessica Lange, John Goodman, Penelope Cruz, Val Kilmer, Giovanni Ribisi, Luke Wilson, Ed Harris (in blackface), Luke Wilson, Cheech Marin, and more doing largely improvisational work.
"I handled the casting myself and it was the easiest casting job I've ever had. I'd envision who should play a certain character, call them up and tell them I was doing a new Bob Dylan movie, and they’d say yes. It was as simple as that," said Charles.
While Dylan's role of Jack Fate, an aging has-been folk singer sprung out of prison to perform at a questionable "benefit concert," is a fascinating and almost comical caricature of the real Dylan, the movie really shines in scenes where actors like Val Kilmer and Giovanni Ribisi perform short, bizarre soliloquys written by Dylan. Some critics have dismissed the film as pretensious and overbearing, but in these stunning moments of clarity, the admittedly mishmashed plot of "Masked" is rendered unimportant and Dylan's voice is clearest.
Chock full of sound musical performances and consistently engaging dialogue, "Masked and Anonymous" is a well worth a viewing for Dylan fans and pop culture aficionados alike.
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Written by Richard Sharp
Review Date: February 27, 2004
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