‘Look’ and listen

Enigmatic and esoteric songwriter Bob Dylan somehow grew even more mysterious after the release of D. A. Pennebaker’s engrossing 1965 UK tour documentary Don’t Look Back in 1967. Released this week for the first time on Blu-ray, the film stands as the most enlightening and confounding portrait of the “voice of his generation” at a time when the press and rabid fans had not yet fully erected the ramparts of the now-infamous walls around the real man behind the shape-shifting persona. Conversations are not conversations in this film, but jousts showing Dylan’s playful wit and fierce determination to challenge the status quo. With intimate acoustic performances of “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue,” “Only A Pawn in Their Game,” and “All I Really Want to Do,” the film is a lyrical timepiece, a snapshot of the 1960s and a riveting portrait of a groundbreaking artist at work. Joan Baez, Donovan and Alan Price co-star. Not Rated.