Todd Haynes’s feature-length examination of Bob Dylan, I’m Not There, is like an extended series of takes on the chimeric performer, an inspired way to approach an artist as elusive and multi-faceted as the former Mr. Robert Zimmerman. If you somehow haven’t heard of the film’s concept, the idea is that Dylan (never referred to by name) is incarnated by several different actors, among them the late Heath Ledger, Richard Gere, Christian Bale and Cate Blanchett. Each plays a different phase of Dylan as if he’d lived his whole life in that mode, if that makes any sense—for instance, Bale’s version remains a folk singer and never goes electric. It’s a very creative, very funny subversion of the traditional, horrible music biopic, and it undermines the genre far better than the lame straight-up parody Walk Hard.

The movie’s out on DVD this week, and the keen-eyed can scrutinize the movie for Montreal locations (it was shot here, and some of them are very recognizable), and local talent like Paul Spence and Joe Cobden, both of whom play significant supporting roles. There’s also, on this two-disc set, plenty of supporting materials and interesting stuff: commentary by Haynes, an essay by rockcrit Greil Marcus, an “on-screen lyric stream,” a tribute to Ledger, a gag reel, various making-ofs, as well as a bunch of Dylan-specific stuff.

Next week sees the release of the great George A. Romero’s latest addition to his zombie oeuvre, Diary of the Dead. Sadly, this is probably the weakest in the series, even after the disappointing Land of the Dead. Romero is going after the YouTube generation here, with his protagonists uploading amateur videos of zombie attacks to a somehow still-functioning Internet. The whole thing is sadly a bit of a shambles, with terrible stock characters and a confused idea of what this whole homemade video revolution is all about. Gotta love the old guy, but this one is not recommended.