A Complete Unknown nudges everyone to look inward and outward in pursuit of capturing the importance of Bob Dylan. As witty as it is a political film, director James Mangold and Timothée Chalamet as Dylan attempts to pry open the elusive, yet approachable, artist of the century. Twenty-year-old Dylan is painfully inconsiderate, yet so true to himself and his craft. This is a gift to watch in today’s age of social media surveillance, class warfare, and worst of all, pop mediocrity. The film is not just enjoyable, but important. Dylan, as fleeting in personality as he is, is everlastingly relevant and magnificent. A Complete Unknown reminds us both why and how he became this way.
Ever since Timothée Chalamet was cast as Dylan, my expectations for his performance have been quite high. It is a huge ask to be believed as one of the most important figures of our time, while he’s still alive, at the height of your own fame. As a prior Dylan fan myself, I was unsure how an actor as recognizable as Chalamet would be able to tackle a finicky, elusive, yet daring artist that many already have a personal, and profound relationship to. Yet Chalamet takes this and runs, doesn’t oversaturate it, and has incredible comedic timing. It seems as though both Mangold and Chalamet lassoed the wild horse of Dylan. The young actor really soars here, and not just because he has the propulsion of Dune 2 right behind him and Marty Supreme in front of him. After more than five years of prep for the role, he gracefully sells us this character. With murmurs of dry humor and bursting at the seams with poetry, both boyish and sagacious, Chalamet makes getting on the wild Dylan horse look easy.
The film’s Mount Rushmore of Chalamet as Dylan, Elle Fanning as Sylvie Russo, Ed Norton as Pete Seeger, and Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez, all work together to portray what makes Dylan so special and important as an artist. It simultaneously focuses on the emotionally treacherous reality of his emergence. At the drop of a hat, these people can be positioned as either vital to the success of Dylan’s illustrious career, or collateral damage along his way of getting there.
Out of the film’s supporting talent, Fanning in particular was stellar. To be fair to Barbaro and Norton, she captured a person we know less of than Baez and Seeger- but Fanning was laid bare so much more often. Introspective, strong, yet frequently torn because of someone she loves and knows better than everyone, who now suddenly wants a piece of him.
A Complete Unknown is based on the biography, Dylan Goes Electric by Elijah Wald, in which Dylan is faced with the choice to buy back his audience’s love through the use of an acoustic guitar. Chronicling the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, the universally known folk artist was faced with a tidal wave of negative reactions for his use of an electric guitar at the safe haven for a much quieter and more humanistic sound. Is the poster boy of the East Village folk scene selling out, or is he more politically active than ever? When faced with the choice of instrument, which seems so simple in comparison to the music technology available today, it very obviously begs us to notice the mode of communication rather than what is said. This historical snapshot reminds us of the role of opposing the system as the only way forward, all the while being so tastefully comedic and relatable, much like what makes Dylan appealing in the first place.
For every nail this film hits on the head, it takes few risks. Maybe it's the fact that we already have a four-hour Martin Scorsese documentary, No Direction Home, chronicling this time period. Or maybe, it's the fact that last time we saw a famous face play Dylan to this extent, we saw seven of them in I’m Not There (dir. Todd Haynes), which dared to do much more in its medium, and more accurately mirrors the personal style of Dylan himself in its direction. A Complete Unknown in comparison to these films seems tame, yet a fictional film depicting Dylan in a more realistic sense may bring new audiences to both Dylan and Chalamet alike. If anyone in the public eye is to earn a consensus of respect, attention, and influence at this point in time, it's Chalamet. The film’s understandable qualm of being less outwardly bold is undermining the risk it takes in its relevant timing and casting Chalamet.
If there’s one thing 2024 taught us, it's that the times really are a’changing, now more than ever. Weeks after seeing this film, the residuals of questions and glimpses I have of Dylan remain as I get to re-discover his discography. Dylan is not just relevant, he’s prophetic, but nonetheless remains a regular guy with regular problems.
Most of all, I appreciate when I walk out of the theater with questions, and for the first time in a long time, I was met with many of them. Will he realize and regret his disengagement from those who know him best, or is he just staying true to himself? What is more important, and to whom? Does Dylan have to burn bridges so he can remain an artist as great and tangible as he is? Does riding the wave of describing emotion mean you have to drown in it yourself? What happens when the changing times you sing of deeply trouble you?
★ ★ ★ ★ ½ / ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Ever since Timothée Chalamet was cast as Dylan, my expectations for his performance have been quite high. It is a huge ask to be believed as one of the most important figures of our time, while he’s still alive, at the height of your own fame. As a prior Dylan fan myself, I was unsure how an actor as recognizable as Chalamet would be able to tackle a finicky, elusive, yet daring artist that many already have a personal, and profound relationship to. Yet Chalamet takes this and runs, doesn’t oversaturate it, and has incredible comedic timing. It seems as though both Mangold and Chalamet lassoed the wild horse of Dylan. The young actor really soars here, and not just because he has the propulsion of Dune 2 right behind him and Marty Supreme in front of him. After more than five years of prep for the role, he gracefully sells us this character. With murmurs of dry humor and bursting at the seams with poetry, both boyish and sagacious, Chalamet makes getting on the wild Dylan horse look easy.
The film’s Mount Rushmore of Chalamet as Dylan, Elle Fanning as Sylvie Russo, Ed Norton as Pete Seeger, and Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez, all work together to portray what makes Dylan so special and important as an artist. It simultaneously focuses on the emotionally treacherous reality of his emergence. At the drop of a hat, these people can be positioned as either vital to the success of Dylan’s illustrious career, or collateral damage along his way of getting there.
Out of the film’s supporting talent, Fanning in particular was stellar. To be fair to Barbaro and Norton, she captured a person we know less of than Baez and Seeger- but Fanning was laid bare so much more often. Introspective, strong, yet frequently torn because of someone she loves and knows better than everyone, who now suddenly wants a piece of him.
A Complete Unknown is based on the biography, Dylan Goes Electric by Elijah Wald, in which Dylan is faced with the choice to buy back his audience’s love through the use of an acoustic guitar. Chronicling the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, the universally known folk artist was faced with a tidal wave of negative reactions for his use of an electric guitar at the safe haven for a much quieter and more humanistic sound. Is the poster boy of the East Village folk scene selling out, or is he more politically active than ever? When faced with the choice of instrument, which seems so simple in comparison to the music technology available today, it very obviously begs us to notice the mode of communication rather than what is said. This historical snapshot reminds us of the role of opposing the system as the only way forward, all the while being so tastefully comedic and relatable, much like what makes Dylan appealing in the first place.
For every nail this film hits on the head, it takes few risks. Maybe it's the fact that we already have a four-hour Martin Scorsese documentary, No Direction Home, chronicling this time period. Or maybe, it's the fact that last time we saw a famous face play Dylan to this extent, we saw seven of them in I’m Not There (dir. Todd Haynes), which dared to do much more in its medium, and more accurately mirrors the personal style of Dylan himself in its direction. A Complete Unknown in comparison to these films seems tame, yet a fictional film depicting Dylan in a more realistic sense may bring new audiences to both Dylan and Chalamet alike. If anyone in the public eye is to earn a consensus of respect, attention, and influence at this point in time, it's Chalamet. The film’s understandable qualm of being less outwardly bold is undermining the risk it takes in its relevant timing and casting Chalamet.
If there’s one thing 2024 taught us, it's that the times really are a’changing, now more than ever. Weeks after seeing this film, the residuals of questions and glimpses I have of Dylan remain as I get to re-discover his discography. Dylan is not just relevant, he’s prophetic, but nonetheless remains a regular guy with regular problems.
Most of all, I appreciate when I walk out of the theater with questions, and for the first time in a long time, I was met with many of them. Will he realize and regret his disengagement from those who know him best, or is he just staying true to himself? What is more important, and to whom? Does Dylan have to burn bridges so he can remain an artist as great and tangible as he is? Does riding the wave of describing emotion mean you have to drown in it yourself? What happens when the changing times you sing of deeply trouble you?
★ ★ ★ ★ ½ / ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
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