D. A. Pennebaker's "Don't Look Back" is one of the great documentaries. An intimate portrait of Bob Dylan's 1965 tour of the UK it's also one of the few films about 'celebrity' that feels both truthful and unforced. Pennebaker may have idolised Dylan but his film is never sycophantic yet is so deeply affectionate it almost hurts and Pennebaker's use of the close-up is extraordinary. This may have been his way of getting as close to Dylan's 'soul' as was possible since Bob's utterances are, perhaps, less profound that we might expect and it's left to the songs to speak for him.
Dylan, himself, comes across as a likeable, if not always modest, young man, (at one point he compares his singing voice to that of Caruso), easily approachable by fans and the obsequious journalists who seem to want to build him up and pull him down at the same time, clearly not understanding a word he says or sings. Subsequent Dylan films have explored in even greater detail his progress from unkempt youth to Nobel-Prize winning elder statesman but if you really love Dylan this film is the gift that keeps giving.
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