Bob Dylan: Don't Look Back [Blu-ray]

The Mystery Behind the Enigma
Don't Look Back is the best documentary about a musician on tour that I've ever seen. I can't say enough good things about it, and it is all I can do to imagine how D. A. Pennebaker simultaneously made himself so ubiquitous and so unnoticed as to capture the remarkable footage that he got on Dylan's British tour. From the incredible sequence of Joan Baez warbling the then-unreleased "Percy's Song" even as Dylan is pounding out the lyrics on his typewriter, to the revealing moments where Dylan manager Albert Grossman quite literally strong-arms the BBC into a high-paying deal for a tv appearance, to Dylan himself, at the most accessible he would ever be in his long career, alternately jousting and jesting with the British press, most of whom seem completely ignorant as to which is the jest and which is the joust. Dylan again, talking with a fan who doesn't like "Subterranean Homesick Blues" because "it just doesn't sound like you," (which was the whole...

A Classic Documentary Goes Blu--But It May Not Be An Essential Upgrade For Everyone
The documentary feature, especially biographical portraits of entertainers, has really evolved through the years. The glimpse into Bob Dylan "Don't Look Back" was one of the earliest and the best to simply let the camera observe its subject without specific purpose. This fly-on-the-wall access to the behind the stage antics during a three week concert tour in England redefined the narrative feature documentary with its simplicity and observational tone. Dylan was an elusive entertainer and acclaimed documentarian D.A. Pennebaker knew that to get the truth from his artist was to leave him alone and report what happened. In truth, there is nothing especially revelatory going on and no high drama--just an intimacy that the low-key Dylan rarely allowed (either before or after). Now this classic documentary (purported to by the first feature documentary to enter DVD format in 1999) goes into the Blu-Ray realm.

Visual/Audio: Is it worth the upgrade? If you don't own "Don't...

Don't look ... listen!
The best thing about the DVD version of "Don't Look Back" is the commentary. It puts a lot of things into perspective. But be aware that this is no restored film. The flaws, such as cracks in the negative, are made even more visible by the clarity of DVD. And read carefully: The full-length versions of the songs from the 1965 British tour are presented here in "audio" only. The fact that there isn't a single completed song in the film has always been a sore spot with me, but the filmmaker talks about that on the commentary. All in all, a look at Bob Dylan back in '65 is worth the time to any music fan. And this is currently the best way to view it, despite the few flaws.

Click to Editorial Reviews