A funny thing happens at film festivals, I call it festival fever. You arrive after hours of bouncing from airport to airport, having barely slept the night before. Dazed but excited, you wander into your first film. And it blows your mind. This is why you’re here! This is why you love movies! But then you see that same movie a few months later on DVD and it’s… uh… why did I like this?

This happened to me at the first film festival I went to. I was at the Denver Film Festival with Spout and we saw the North American premiere of Anthony Minghella’s Breaking and Entering. Somehow, we all loved it. Later, we all agreed that it was lackluster, especially considering the director of The English Patient and Cold Mountain was teaming up with Juliette Binoche.

Festival Fever is hitting me pretty hard this year at Telluride. It’s been exacerbated by very little sleep the night before leaving, a harrowing drive through a mountain pass, and meeting and being denied interviews with some of the best actors in the world (don’t worry, we’re still trying). Needless to say, I was skeptical of my own opinion after seeing my first film of the festival, Todd Haynes‘ Bob Dylan pic, I’m Not There…

The film is a portrait of the many identities Bob Dylan has adopted through the years, with different actors playing each persona. There’s a handful of really great people, not the least of which are Heath Ledger, Christian Bale, Richard Gere, and, get this, Cate Blanchett! To add to the confusion, the story isn’t anywhere close to being linear. I’ll admit, I’m a sucker for concept films (Memento: OMG, it’s backwards!), but this went way beyond that. Every scene is a delicious layer cake of cultural references and multiple meanings. Each Dylan goes by a different name, some purely fictional, others a clear reference to the singer’s influences, such as Woody Guthrie.

I wasn’t planning on taking notes, but ten minutes into the film I was rifling through my bag to find a pen. I began jotting down names of actors, historical figures, and characters in the film, frantically trying to make the connections (was that mockumentary footage of Julianne Moore playing “Alice Babien” supposed to be Joan Baez?). It quickly became clear that it would take a pretty complicated flowchart to map it all out (and if the current internet memes concerning flowcharts and maps persist, one will likely surface soon).

Eventually I put my notepad away and decided to just absorb the film. It hit me hard. It’s true that I was in a rather fragile, sleep-deprived state at the time, but even now, the morning after, as it were, I still love this film. I’ve never seen a film that manipulated my heart and mind so deftly, often in a single shot or line. I’ll be very disappointed if Cate Blanchett doesn’t pick up an Oscar for this, and I’m rooting for Todd Haynes for both the best screenplay and best director prizes. Is that an objective opinion? Of course not. I have an irrational crush on this movie. I’m a fan.

Also, be sure to check out my interview with I’m Not There writer/director Todd Haynes, where we talk about celebrity identity and the American dream.