Look at how Morrissey went from being the articulator of universal angst to being the prime chronicler of How Hard It Is Being Morrissey. If Morrissey wrote and starred in a film, I'm guessing it wouldn't be that far removed from Masked And Anonymous. Except it'd be a mythical England and not a mythical America. And it'd be about the decline of civilisation post-1959, instead of 69. And it'd have lots of stuff about court cases.
But it'd still be about Morrissey, because however brilliant he undoubtedly is, his work communicates only how much he frets over every slight and injustice committed against Steven Patrick.
Whilst Dylan doesn't worry so much about the injustices or what-not, and has more of a tendency to deny that any of this stuff has anything to do with him whatsoever, he is just as concerned with the product that is Dylan, and what it means, and, perversely, what it doesn't mean, but what he'd like to suggest it might mean.
So in Masked And Anonymous, we get Dylan as Jack Fate, a once-great rock star who slid into obscurity and, eventually, prison, on account of some never-fully-explained sexual transgression.
America has been lost amidst some civil war of some kind, and is now under the watchful glare of a Big Brother type dictatorship. Fate is released from prison that he might perform at some fundraising concert, under the managerial wing of John Goodman, here playing a combination of his bumbling role in Barton Fink, and an occasionally very transparent caricature of onetime Dylan manager Albert Grossman.
Goodman's partner (Marital? Business? Who knows?), played by Jessica Lange, is less than overjoyed about this development. I mean what the fuck has this cat done in the last forever, is what she's getting at? Sure he released a few "seminal" records, but who the hell cares anymore?
Goodman replies with one of the best lines in the film;
"Did Jesus have to walk on water twice to make a point?"
You could even argue about how this all reflects Dylan's own late-90's resurgence, following years of floundering in the unforgiving waters of mediocrity. With the release of the ever-cheerful Time Out Of Mind, perhaps the most frankly honest album he ever made, and the subsequent mass critical orgasms, he too was granted a release, a rebirth, one which he actually made good on with the equally wonderful, although much more upbeat, Love And Theft.
I mean we were here before, man. Everyone thought Oh Mercy was gonna herald some messianic return. All it heralded was Under The Red Sky with that motherfucker from Guns N Roses. The one with the big hair.
Article comments
1 - Chris Kent
Excellent work El Sunor Duke on a film shreaded by the critics. Some fascinating observations on the Dylan mystique. When reading the reviews of this film, was reminded of an old Alex Cox flick Straight To Hell, which was equally loved by film connoisseurs. I believe Joe Strummer and even The Pogues made appearances in the one long hip in-joke. I actually loved it, and perhaps the folks just didn't get it?
2 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
Chris, im sorry for the delay in my reply. Something odd happened when Blogcritics shifted, and AOL was sending all my comment notifications into the SPAM folder for some reason!
Glad to hear someone else yack with praise regarding Straight To Hell. Being a somewhat obsessive fan of Shane MacGowan, frontman with The Pogues, i had to see it, of course, and was really pleasantly suprised. Even if Shane and the boys hadn't been it, i think i would still have loved it. And yes, i too was reminded on it throughout M&A.
Thank you for the kind words, friend, and again, sorry for the delay.