A Complete Unknown

             Growing up, I had heard the name Bob Dylan, but I knew him for a song that played on MTV non-stop called “Subterranean Homesick Blues.” Little did young me know that before dropping those signs, Dylan was quite the folk and rock star—as these were things I would learn not much longer after I discovered he existed. Now a new generation, as well as those who grew up with Dylan’s music, get to see those early years in James Mangold’s A Complete Unknown and witness the birth of an icon.

Dylan (Timothée Chalamet) has come a long way to meet his music hero Woody Guthrie (Scoot McNairy) and hopes to play him a song. Guthrie is sick and in a hospital, but Dylan gets to him and impresses him as well as another singer, Pete Seeger (Edward Norton), who helps Dylan get a break. Dylan starts to play small bars with Seeger, and this is where he meets Joan Baez (Monica Barbaro), who he seems pretty into after their meeting. Though, already has a girlfriend in Sylvie (Elle Fanning), who he lives with, but that doesn’t stop Bob from creating magic with Baez, on and off stage. Soon, the pair are making a name for themselves as they put on quite the show, especially at the Newport Folk Festival. Dylan would have had a nice career playing that scene, but people grow, and he has grown from acoustic to electric, much to the chagrin of his fans at Newport. That choice, however, launches Dylan into the stratosphere and makes him the household name he would become.

Written by Jay Cocks and James Mangold and based on the book by Elijah Wald, A Complete Unknown is one of the better music biographies I have seen. What helps, in my opinion, is the laser focus, as the film just centers on Dylan’s life from 1961 to 1965. Mangold also uses the music right, weaving it into the fabric of the storytelling versus using it just as a soundtrack. Mangold and Cocks also allow viewers to connect the dots on their own, as the script never overplays its message. In hindsight, we know that Dylan became the poet of his generation.

A Complete Unknown is a riveting journey about personal struggle and musical brilliance, told through a significant time in music history. It avoids the pitfalls most music biopics drop into while still managing to tell a good story about a mysterious figure like Dylan, and this portrayal makes the film interesting. The story works so well because of the cast, led by Chalamet, who truly excels. He really embodies the guarded and always quiet Dylan, adding to his unintentional mystique—and I haven’t even talked about the singing yet. Everyone in the cast sang their own songs, and the live performances really stand out, as the prolonged musical selections convey a sense of authenticity. Chalamet is also dead-on with Dylan’s singing style, and the last half’s musical numbers are pretty jaw-dropping in how incredible they are. Ultimately, A Complete Unknown is not much different from what you have seen before, but great music, a charismatic lead, and an excellent supporting cast will turn many people into fans of not only Dylan but Chalamet as well.