It wasn't the film istelf that caught my eye, not that I'm not interested in how a humble boy called John became a real life deity. (despite my self loathing sarcasm the film turned out to be really rather good, a heartfelt drama that somehow managed to ground the characters on a human level), but the image used to sell the newest 'rock star biopic' around.
The poster shows Aaron Johnson (John) swaggering along the streets of Liverpool, guitar on his back, cigarette hanging from his mouth.
It was almost the same as the photo above, except in the poster he had his hands in his pockets, (I mean surely that will just make the smoking harder). It reminded of the poster for Control.
What is it about complicated genuises and smoking? Ian Curtis, John Lennon, Bob Dylan, all obsessively smoking their way through cinematic depictions of their lives.
What's more important, their art or their images? 'I'm not There' is an interesting film, since it uses different actors, including Heath Ledger, Richard Gere and Cate Blanchett, to portray different iconic images, even ideas, of Bob Dylan.
At times it didn't even seem to necessarily be about him, so much as the art he gave to the world, and the way people see him. ANYWAY, as unhealthy as smoking is, it has always looked cool. And without it, you might not know that Ian Curtis (star of the film Control) is also cool.
