Product Description

In a fictional America caught up in a civil war that is tearing the nation apart, a benefit concert is being organized. A traveling troubadour named Jack Fate (Bob Dylan) is sprung from jail by his scheming former manager (John Goodman) to headline a concert with the expectations to bring peace to a country that is entrenched by chaos, lawlessness and pandemonium. Star-studded cast includes: Jeff Bridges, Penelope Cruz, Bob Dylan, John Goodman, Jessica Lange, Luke Wilson. Cameos by Mickey Rourke, Angela Basset, Giovanni Ribisi, Val Kilmer, Cheech Marin, Ed Harris and Bruce Dern.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10150 in DVD
• Brand: BRIDGES,JEFF
• Released on: 2004-02-17
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: AC-3, Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: French
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 106 minutes

Amazon.com
Masked and Anonymous is a mesmerizing experiment in surreal drama with lyrical content, a cinematic approximation of an epic Bob Dylan song on the order of "Desolation Row." Not coincidentally, Dylan is a co-writer and star of this 2003 film, playing an enigmatic folk-rocker named Jack Fate, a political prisoner in an unnamed, civil war-torn country. Set free to headline a benefit concert organized by an unscrupulous promoter (John Goodman) and television executive (Jessica Lange), Jack embarks on a fateful journey through a battle-scarred land. Taken literally, Masked and Anonymous proves bewildering, even exasperating, but as a feverish act of unrestrained political satire the film has a lot to offer, including some of the best recent performances by Goodman, Lange, Jeff Bridges (as a cynical journalist), Val Kilmer (a babbling prophet), Luke Wilson (a musician), and Giovanni Ribisi (a haunted soldier). Dylan himself proves a stiff cipher, but fun to watch. --Tom Keogh

DVD features
Masked & Anonymous on DVD comes with a commentary track from director Larry Charles, who is good on the details of the shooting schedule, but vague about the movie's aspirations. There are some deleted scenes (none of which shed any more light on the plot), another Dylan performance, and a 20-minute making-of featurette, with the many supporting stars waxing lyrical about the freewheeling shooting style and semi-theatrical staging. The anamorphic widescreen picture is unexceptional, as is the Dolby 5.1 soundtrack, which naturally enough works best with the music. --Mark Walker

From The New Yorker
Bob Dylan's first foray into film in fifteen years should be considered his first film in almost thirty: the mid-eighties abomination "Hearts of Fire" isn't good for much but a punch line. "Masked and Anonymous," directed by the "Seinfeld" vet Larry Charles and probably written largely by Dylan himself (the credited scriptwriters seem to be pseudonyms) takes place in a near-future America torn apart by revolution; Jack Fate (Dylan) is a washed-up rock star who gets roped into a benefit concert by the unscrupulous promoter Uncle Sweetheart (John Goodman). Dylan's most ambitious songs have always been alarmingly overpopulated-think "Desolation Row"-and that spirit suffuses the film, which doesn't skimp on the supporting cast: there's a harried television producer (Jessica Lange), a cynical journalist (Jeff Bridges), a shifty roadie (Luke Wilson), a disreputable politician (Mickey Rourke), an unhinged animal lover (Val Kilmer), and even a mysterious Lady in Red (Angela Bassett). Dylan, with a huge cowboy hat atop his stringbean body, moves through the film stolidly, though he is required to cry at one point. Whenever there's a slack moment in the political allegory, which is a kind of crazy quilt of Shakespeare, Gabriel García Márquez, and "Putney Swope," the soundtrack-split between fierce performances by Dylan's crack touring band and world-music covers of Dylan standards-redeems it. And though the plot, such as it is, unravels toward the end, the movie holds its own as part of the Dylan canon: it's knowing without always being knowledgeable, darkly humorous, full of wisdom both faux and real, and genuinely mysterious. -Ben Greenman
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

A Masterpiece
You would probably have to go back to early Godard to find a movie as audacious, shockingly funny and brilliantly incisive in its analysis of the uneasy alliance between art and commerce as the sci-fi/film noir/spaghetti-western/Shakespearean musical-tragicomedy, Masked and Anonymous, the new movie from Bob Dylan and Larry Charles. As with some Godard, I can't say whether it's a comedy or a tragedy - but it's definitely a masterpiece.
To direct the Hollywood cast to speak in the script's poetic, ornate language could not have been easy but the actors do an exemplary job. Nearly all of them manage to hit just the right note of cartoonish hysteria to give the film a sense of unity and harmony. Except, that is, for Bob Dylan. His character, Jack Fate, is the calm in the eye of the storm, the one rational character surrounded by a world of swirling insanity and director Charles gets a lot of comic mileage out of the contrast
between Dylan's deadpan delivery and the over-the-top performances of nearly everyone else; it's like taking a Humphrey Bogart character out of the '40's and plunking him down in the middle of a massively absurd science-fiction landscape - the resignation and world-weariness of the film noir hero remains hilariously intact. The very idea is inspired and the execution is flawless.
The performance footage of course is terrific. Dylan and His Band play eight songs live on camera and there is a warmth, an intimacy and a relaxed quality to the performances that you will only see at Dylan's best club shows. Although none of the songs are heard in their entirety, these sequences are nonetheless beautifully filmed. There is none of the rapid-fire editing and pointlessly roving camera that mars the filmed footage of so many live musical performances. Instead, Charles' strategy is to have the band crowd together and film them in close-up with a wide-angle lens. There are numerous long takes in which all of the band members can be seen and when the camera does move, it's deliberate and meaningful.
In a recent interview, Larry Charles said he never worried about
finding a distributor for the film and that Dylan had told him long ago not to worry about the film "in the short term." However the film _is_ received in the short term, the richly orchestrated tapestry of sound and image that is Masked and Anonymous is sure to keep Dylanologists and film fans alike busy for decades.

Dylan plays Dylan
Two things will really add to the appreciation of thid film. 1. An extremely open mind and 2. a working knowledge of Bob Dyaln; his history, his philosophy, his music. This is not a high budget film. Think more surrealist art house film. It does have many stars that most people will recognize, but that isn't the focus, nor point of the movie. This is the highly metaphorical tale of a musician and how he can't control his place in a chaotic society, but can remain true to his own self amid the chaos.

The very loosely woven plot becomes secondary to the individual events which make up the film, each scene revealing a nugget of Dylan's perspevtive. Dylan often delivers comments that make the entire scene seem irrelevant. In this way this is, at times, a very funny film. Dylan seems relaxed, especially compared to the other films he has made. The feeling is much more "Don't Look Back", much less "Hearts of Fire". He does retain his wooden movement and he delivers his short lines as commentary more often than conversation.

The soundtrack is exceptional. The performances are a real treat. All Dylan songs, but unique versions which fit seemlessly into the texture of the movie. The little girl singing "The Times They are A-Changin" will at least choke you up a bit, and possibly help us to remeber exactly how much that song meant 41 years ago, and how much it still means today.

I certainly recommend this to Dylan fans, especially those who respect or admire his perspective on the world. Anyone who enjoys non formulatic surreal films may also find much enjoyment in this movie. There is too much to pick everything up in your first screening when looking for interesting comments or details. I would recommend trying to watch and a get a feel for the film initially. Don't drive yourself crazy trying to make sense of every detail. In that way it is like most of Dylan's music, to be experienced repeatedly.

amazing film
It's definitely not for everyone, but "Masked and Anonymous" is one of the most original films I've ever seen, and terrific on a number of levels. Admittedly, Bob Dylan is no actor, but his acting "method" (such as it is) is perfect for this role, that of a legendary, mysterious musical artist with a mysterious past, who has been released from prison (why he's there, we do not know) to perform a "benefit" concert. Dylan is a wraith, a cypher, the proverbial walking, talking mystery wrapped in a riddle wrapped in an enigma.

The picture is an eerie, uncanny look at an America turned into a banana republic, a dictatorship embroiled in civil unrest and civil war, seemingly with no "good guys." (No doubt, this is the America we have to look forward to if we allow the Bush regime to hang on to power much longer, but that's another story for another time.)

The movie is chock full of memorable dialog and images, and outstanding performances by John Goodman, Jessica Lange and a host of others (Val Kilmer has an amazing, out of character cameo appearance). Bonus points for Dylan fans include little inside jokes and references (Dylan's character's name is Jack Fate, and the Jack Fate tribute band he hooks up with is called "Simple Twist of Fate," a song from his classic "Blood on the Tracks" album).

Then there's the music - I hope that this band tours with Dylan someday (they may well already have, I haven't seen him in concert in a number of years). Great, unexpected performances ("Dixie," which doesn't seem like it would be appropriate at all, is very haunting).

I repeat - this movie is not for everyone. For one thing, if you haven't seen or heard Dylan in years, you may be in for a shock. (Though, given that he's now over 60 years old, he doesn't look or sound too bad really.)

More importantly, this film is equal parts Fellini and Scorsese, with a healthy dose of David Lynch thrown in for good measure. It's easy to see why this movie was oftentimes panned by mainstream critics, and generally ignored by mainstream audiences. But Larry Charles has crafted an amazing, unique and criminally overlooked vision with "Masked and Anonymous."