Masked and Anonymous | 
| Director: Larry Charles
Actors: Bob Dylan, Jeff Bridges, Penelope Cruz, John Goodman, Jessica Lange
Studio: Columbia Tristar
Category: DVD
List Price: $14.94
Buy Used: $1.34
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Rating:  99 reviews
Sales Rank: 22385
Format: Ac-3, Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dvd, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), French (Subtitled)
Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Region: 99
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 106 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.6
MPN: D01443D
ISBN: 1404937188
UPC: 043396014435
EAN: 9781404937185
ASIN: B00000F2L9
Theatrical Release Date: 2003
Release Date: February 17, 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Against the backdrop of a nation on the brink of revolution uncle sweetheart & nina veronica are slimy producers planning a benefit concert. They want legendary singer jack fate & soon fate is sprung from jail. A rock journalist investigates the concert attempting to determine just who will benefit. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 10/04/2005 Starring: Bob Dylan John Goodman Run time: 106 minutes Rating: Pg13
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
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| Customer Reviews: Read 94 more reviews...
 the best whacked-out movie ever March 1, 2009
Bob (San Rafael, CA USA)
I love this movie. I am also dumbfounded at many commercial reviewers who don't seem to get it at all. Bob Dylan & Larry Charles wrote the screenplay together - and created a powerful social commentary on where America could be headed. The primary cast is perfect, plus there are quite a number of short appearances by another group of actors with powerful little scenes.
The central theme is the state of government, the TV network, and a varied & diverse group of stressed individuals who are trying to make their way through a society that has crumbled into half-collapse.
Put Granny & the kids to bed, crank up the surround sound system, and let the movie take you on a wierd, creative, Dylan-esque song experience........on film.
"See the arrow on the doorpost, saying this land is condemned; all the way from New Orleans to Jerusalem."
the levee breaks. February 5, 2009
Nicholas C. Maestri (boston, ma usa)
trip'd out film, cameo by cheech marin. a cast of heavyweights, a bit verbose at times but for all the right reasons. highly recommended.
 Yet another disastrous Dylan-related film project January 22, 2009
Peter Hoogenboom (New Zealand)
Bob Dylan is undoubtedly a musical genius but his film projects usually operate at the other end of the quality spectrum and "Masked and Anonymous" is no exception. A terrible script (co-written by Dylan) with pretentions way above its low budget and Dylan's non-acting wreck this film. That some reviewers give this film five stars is hard to understand to say the least. Maybe, like Dylan appears to be doing, they are playing some kind of joke on the public. You have been warned!
sometimes we have to know what things don't mean as well December 2, 2008
C. CRADDOCK (Bakersfield)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
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Uncle Sweetheart: [to Jack Fate] You look good. You got the "jail pale". It suits you.
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The first time I tried to watch Masked & Anonymous I got to the part where Jack Fate sings for the first time since being released from prison and I couldn't understand a word he was singing. I gave up and went to sleep. The next morning I woke up refreshed and gave it another try. When I heard "My Back Pages" performed by Mogokoro Brothers as kind of a hip hop thing done in a foreign language (Spanish?) I knew I was going to enjoy the movie. The sound track is chock full of Bob Dylan songs, done everywhich way, from The Golden Gate Strings, or Percy Faith and his Orchestra, to The Ramones, or Los Lobos. Pulled in by his music, I had no trouble understanding the words of Jack Fate, alias Bob Dylan.
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Jack Fate: I was always a singer and maybe no more then that. Sometimes it's not enough to know the meaning of things, sometimes we have to know what things don't mean as well. Like what does it mean to not know what the person you love is capable of? Things fall apart, especially all the neat order of rules and laws. The way we look at the world is the way we really are. See it from a fair garden and everything looks cheerful. Climb to a higher plateau and you'll see plunder and murder. Truth and beauty are in the eye of the beholder. I stopped trying to figure everything out a long time ago.
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The movie takes place in a politically unstable future, like some South American country always on the verge of another coup, another revolution. Jack Fate is in jail, but Nina Veronica (Jessica Lange) and Uncle Sweetheart (John Goodman) have plans to spring him so he can play a big benefit concert. It would mostly benefit them, of course, but The Network is not really aware of just how big a legend Jack Fate is. Still, they can get him cheap, and so the show will go on. Meanwhile journalist Tom Friendly (Jeff Bridges) is assigned to do a story or an interview on the man, and Tom reluctantly brings along his young girlfriend, Pagan Lace Penelope Cruz).
But don't let the plot get in the way of the story, because the movie is really a fable or a metaphor for the career and life of Bob Dylan. How he approached the life of a traveling folk singer as a kind of poet, but then became a prisoner of his own fame. Where his poems came from he didn't know himself, they kind of just went through him. He saw flaming letters and wrote down what they spelled out. People thought he had the answers. They thought he had all the answers and was just sitting on them, like a dragon guarding a decaying horde of gold that wasn't doing anybody any good. Obsessed fans went through his trash and harrassed him because he refused to give them the answers they knew he had stashed away.
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Jack Fate: By the way, which side of the political fence are you on?
Desk Clerk: I do not belong to any political party, sir. I guess you could call me... a feminist
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The movie was written by Bob Dylan and Larry Charles under assumed names, because they were masked and anonymous. Dylan was Sergei Petrov and Charles was Rene Fontaine. Mr. Charles was a writer for Seinfeld and then he had his own show, Curb Your Enthusiasm. Larry Charles directed it, his first feature film, and they knocked it out in 20 days, filming on digital video. A stellar cast worked for much less than usual for the chance to be in a movie with Dylan. They were honored to be included, as well they should.
A high point in the movie is when a very young black woman (Tinashe Kachingwe) sings "The Times They Are A-Changin'" Even a tool of a critic who trashed the movie and called it a vanity project was moved by this scene. There are many interesting versions of Dylan's music performed for the soundtrack. Virtually all of the songs were written by him, and he also contributes quite a few performances of his own music. Masked and Anonymous is a great film, but if you don't 'get' Bob Dylan, then you probably will be perplexed by it. Sometimes it's not enough to know the meaning of things, sometimes we have to know what things don't mean as well.
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Soldier: I wish I could live in my dreams. Do you dream?
Jack Fate: Yeah, I dream. I dream that I'm walking through fire... Intense heat. I don't pay much attention to my dreams.
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MASKED & ANONYMOUS
Directed by
Larry Charles
Writing credits
Bob Dylan (written by) (as Sergei Petrov) &
Larry Charles (written by) (as Rene Fontaine)
SELECTED CAST
Bob Dylan ... Jack Fate
Jeff Bridges ... Tom Friend
Penelope Cruz ... Pagan Lace
John Goodman ... Uncle Sweetheart
Jessica Lange ... Nina Veronica
Luke Wilson ... Bobby Cupid
Angela Bassett ... Mistress
Bruce Dern ... Editor
Ed Harris ... Oscar Vogel
Val Kilmer ... Animal Wrangler
Cheech Marin ... Prospero
Chris Penn ... Crew Guy #2
Giovanni Ribisi ... Soldier
Mickey Rourke ... Edmund
Christian Slater ... Crew Guy #1
Fred Ward ... Drunk
Alex Desert ... Valentine
OTHER NOTABLE ROLES OF CAST MEMBERS OF MASKED & ANONYMOUS
Hearts of Fire (1987) .... Bob Dylan was Billy Parker
Renaldo and Clara (1978) .... Bob Dylan was Renaldo
The Big Lebowski (1998) .... Jeff Bridges was Jeffrey Lebowski - The Dude [John Goodman was Walter Sobchak]
Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008) .... Penelope Cruz was Maria Elena
O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) .... John Goodman was Big Dan Teague
Music Box (1989) .... Jessica Lange was Ann Talbot
Old School (Widescreen Unrated Edition) (2003) .... Luke Wilson was Mitch Martin
What's Love Got to Do with It (1993) .... Angela Bassett was Anna Mae Bullock / Tina Turner
The Wild Angels (1966) .... Bruce Dern was Loser
Glengarry Glen Ross (1992) .... Ed Harris was Dave Moss
Wonderland (2003) .... Val Kilmer was John Holmes
Up in Smoke (1978) .... Cheech Marin was Pedro De Pacas
Boiler Room (2000) .... Giovanni Ribisi was Seth Davis
Reservoir Dogs (1992) .... Chris Penn was Nice Guy Eddie Cabot
Barfly (1987) .... Mickey Rourke was Henry Chinaski
The Contender (2000) .... Christian Slater was Reginald Webster [Jeff Bridges was President Jackson Evans]
Henry & June (1990) .... Fred Ward was Henry Miller
Swingers (1996) (as Alex Desert) .... Alex Desert was Charles
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Jack Fate: All of us in some way are trying to kill time. When it's all said and done, time ends up killing us.
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Art House Dylan October 4, 2008
Gord Wilson (Bellingham, WA USA)
This is rated PG-13, but it's a must for any Dylan fan. From the blurbs and reviews, one can piece together the story, so I won't recount it. It most reminds me of the Sam Shephard (sp.) plays I've seen performed and acted in. There's a bit that seems almost taken from T-Bone Burnett's Truth Decay album, and has the same intonation and delivery. There's a band that includes Charlie Sexton, who joined Dylan's band after recording two Tonio-K songs. Full of rare genius, this film has the usual suspects' fingerprints all over it.
The last three films I watched had John Goodman in them, but here he outdoes himself in a performance that may equal that in O Brother, Where Art Thou? Val Kilmer hints at hidden depths and could have excelled in a wider part. Jeff Bridges as the writer delivers a curiously muted performance. In my view, he simply doesn't have John Goodman's command of language. However, he could be playing The Big Lebowski (sp.), this so easily slips into Coen Bros. /T-Bone Burnett territory. The natural in this film, however, is Jessica Lange. Hers is an Oscar winning performance (if films like this were ever considered for Oscars).
What of Dylan? I most enjoyed watching him perform, and likely don't have the same view of that as some other reviewers. I thought he was rather forced on 'Dixie" and the other folk songs, mostly because people know how those go and expect a certain sort of rendering. But Dylan's originals are his own. There's a tremendous version of "I'll Remember You," unplugged and far slower than whatever album it appeared on. There's also one verse of "Blind Willie McTell", which is on the third disc of Bootleg Series Vol. 1-3. Also in that boxed CD set is a dazzling number called "Angelina". An instrumental version of "Angelina" plays near the end of the film, but the lyrics are never sung.
I eagerly searched for the CD soundtrack, thinking these songs would be on it, but they're not. Some critics have found this film to be pretentious and self-conscious. I found it anything but. There is some overdubbed talking, apparently in the first person by Dylan persona Jack Fate, which may fall into that category, and there is a Jeff Bridges monologue I would have edited out. Some of the Jack Fate parts sound like they could have been Dylan reading his autobiography. The actual character rarely speaks in the film, and doesn't seem too far removed from the riverboat gambler of Love and Theft. I would have liked T-Bone Burnett to have been in this film, but of course he's busy with his Coen Bros. projects, producing and, I hope, re-releasing Proof Through the Night and Trap Door for those of us who missed the Rhino limited edition release.
The photography is amazing. The iconography seems taken from the cover of the little heard Dylan album, Knocked Out Loaded, which perhaps helped inspire it. Dylan is one of the few performers at home in both French and Spanish culture. He regularly performs at the New Orleans jazz festivals, and is here at home among references to Hemmingway and other expatriates. Finally, the writing in this film is amazing. Where are you going? Jack Fate asks a fellow traveller at a bus stop. "This way," he replies. "Another good way is that way" or words to that effect. "Masked" captures Dylan in perhaps his most natural persona, and one to which many can relate, that of the wanderer. It walks into serious business indeed, without taking itself too seriously, and proves that art house need not be arty.
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