Another slice of the time capsule is what 65 Revisited comes down to- a capsule from the 'Don't Look Back' documentary, where Pennebaker put his practically objective 16mm lens on Dylan and what might be considered his crossover period (I say 'practically' since it's right before his electric switch, which may or may not had happened on the tour, it might've not, I can't say yet till I listed to the commentary).
What's so great about Pennebaker's films of Dylan- this shouldn't be considered any more or less than what DLB gave its audience which was unfiltered Zim up on the screen, is that he has the fly-on-the-wall approach. He's just there, and Dylan is just there (or is he?) and aside from the beautiful acoustic performances given, we see a Dylan- even more in Revisited arguably- jovial and kidding around. A reporter asks him "What will you be doing in the future?" Dylan says, with a grin, "Sleeping, about 60 years." There are also the moments of downtime with Dylan and Joan Baez in a room improvising some folk tunes, or Baez just softly singing as Dylan goes feverish on the typewriter.
The structure also goes a way to represent the structure, if there is any, to traveling on the road, one place merging into the next, a long continuous chain. At one point we see Dylan a little ambivalent with fans, but who's to say if he'll meet the same fans when he comes to Birmingham, or Sheffield, or some other small town? Prophet? Probably not, but with something to say and sing and play. It's relatively short, but you get a very cool offering as an extra on the Don't Look Back DVD (or, if you had the chance, for one week only at the IFC in NYC), as there's just a little more added to the plate of Dylan-lore, and a look that strips down, if only a bit, the myth-making that surrounded Dylan in the 60s. It's raw documentary film-making at its best.
