‘A Complete Unknown’ Review: Another Side of Bob Dylan

The
title
of
the
new

Bob
Dylan biopic, A
Complete
Unknown, is
not
just
a
reference
to
a
famous
line
from Dylan’s
“Like
a
Rolling
Stone.”
It
is
the
entire
thesis
of

James
Mangold’s film
in
three
words. In

A
Complete
Unknown,
Mangold’s
Dylan
arrives
in
New
York
City
in
early
1961
with
the
clothes
on
his
back,
an
acoustic
guitar,
and
a
name
that
he chose
for
himself.
He
shuffles
anonymously
through
Greenwich
Village’s
clubs
and
coffee
shops.
No
one
gives
this
scruffy
kid
a
second
look.
Not
until
they
hear
him
play.

Pretty
soon,
Dylan
becomes
a Village
favorite.
Within
a
few
years,
he’s
an
international
star,
and
so
big
and
influential
than
when
he
dares
to
buck
the
trend
toward
socially
relevant
folk
music
that
he
helped
bring
into
the
mainstream,
he’s
labeled
a
Judas
by
his
own
fans.
But the
motivations
behind
that
decision
and
many
others he
makes
throughout A
Complete
Unknown are
left
opaque.
As
a
musician,
Dylan is
clearly
a
genius.
As
a
man,
he
remains
a
complete
unknown.

A
biography
that reinforces
its subject’s
mysteries
rather
than
illuminates
them
is
a
valid
choice
for
a
Dylan
film,
and
one
Dylan
himself
would
probably
appreciate
if
he
ever
gets
around
to
watching

A
Complete
Unknown.
But
I
am
not
sure
it
is
an
entirely rewarding
one
to
the
paying
customer
who
goes
to
see
this.

Yes, this
movie is
well-made.
But
what,
ultimately,
does
it
add
to
our
understanding
of
Dylan,
or
to
great
artists
in
general?
What
do
we
take
away
from
this
story,
except
that Dylan
followed
his
muse,
wrote
incredible
music,
and
left
the
rest
to
others
to
sort
out
for
themselves?
These
are
questions
I
am
still
wrestling
with
even
as
I’m
writing
this
review.

READ
MORE:


This
Is
Our
Least
Favorite
Biopic
Cliche

I
know
this
much: Timothée
Chalamet
is
genuinely
impressive
playing
(and
singing!)
the
young
Bob
Dylan.

A
Complete
Unknown is
not
a
biopic
like
Bradley
Cooper’s Maestro,
which
barely
concerned
itself
with
the
musical
legacy
of Leonard
Bernstein,
and
focused
instead
on
his
complicated
marriage
and
private
life. A
Complete
Unknown overflows with
Dylan
music,
from
“Song
For
Woody,”
strummed
by
Chalamet’s
Dylan
in
a
hospital
room for
Woody
Guthrie
(Scoot
McNairy),
to
“Like
a
Rolling
Stone,”
blasted
by
Dylan
and
his
backing
band
at
the
stunned
throngs
gathered
at 1965’s
Newport
Film
Festival.

All
of the
music
is
performed by
Chalamet,
doing
a
very
credible
Dylan
croon
—
and
doing
an
even
more
impressive
job
of
inhabiting
Dylan
away
from
the
microphone.
His
tics,
his
stammers,
his
evasive
glances,
his
endless
obfuscations.
Beyond
his
wild
mop
of
brown
hair,
Chalamet
doesn’t
really
look
much
like
Dylan.
And Dylan
is vastly
different
from
ascendant
emperor
Paul
Atreides
in Dune,
or
from
the
aspiring
chocolatier
in Wonka. For
a
guy
who 
looks basically
the
same
in
every
single
role
he
takes
on,
Chalamet
sure
has developed
an
impressive chameleonic
quality.

Mangold
surrounds
Chalamet
with
a
terrific
ensemble.

Edward
Norton
plays
an
awed,
frustrated
Pete
Seeger
who
recognizes
the
potential
in
Dylan,
and
perhaps
envies
it
as
well,
and
tries
to
guide the
young
folkie’s
career
in
the
ways
he
would
have
wanted
if
he
were
just
coming
into
his
own
as
an
artist
in
the
early
’60s.

Elle
Fanning
plays
Sylvie,
a
fictionalized
version
of
Dylan’s
girlfriend
in
this
period,
perhaps
the
last
person
outside
the
world
of
show
business
who
would
ever
be
close
to
him.
And

Monica
Barbaro
plays
Joan
Baez,
who
forged
a
fiery
connection
with
Dylan
both
on
and
off-screen.

A
Complete
Unknown’s
screenplay,
written
by
Mangold
with
frequent
Martin
Scorsese
collaborator
Jay
Cocks
and
based
on
a
book
by
journalist
Elijah
Wald
called Dylan
Goes
Electric!,
charts
Dylan’s
rise
to
fame
and
then
his
growing
interest
in
rock
and
roll
and
pop,
much
to
the
consternation
of
old-school folk
singers
like
Seeger
and
his
colleagues
at
the
Newport
Folk
Festival.
Whether
you
will
get
invested
in
the
battle
over
Dylan’s
musical
soul
may
depend
on
how
much
you
know
or
care
about
the
man
himself,
and
how
much
you
know
about
how
these
events
played
out
in
real
life.

Beyond
them,
there
isn’t
an
enormous
amount
of
dramatic
tension
or
suspense
in
the
film. A
Complete
Unknown
is
not
a
traditional
take
on
“The
Bob
Dylan
Story.”
It’s
more
a
loving
evocation
of
1960s
New
York
City,
with
its
smoky
bars
and
chilly
dives,
and
of
the
wider
social
and
political
upheaval
that
birthed
this
remarkable
talent
—
who
then
decided
he
was more
interested
in
things
beyond
protest
songs
and
campaigning
for
civil
rights.
For
Dylan,
the
times
were
always
a’changing.

So
does
that
justify
a
movie
that
adds
so
little
to
our
understanding
of
Dylan?

A
Complete
Unknown
is
beautiful,
it’s
got
a
wonderful
texture
of
authenticity,
and
it’s
got
one
remarkable
song
after
another.
(The
soundtrack
will
be
incredible
…
provided
you
want
to
hear Timothée
Chalamet
sing
“Girl
From
the
North
Country.”)
And
when
the
movie
was
over,
I
walked
out
of
the
theater
and
thought
to
myself
…
“Okay,
but,
so
what?”

I
believe
Mangold directed the
Dylan
movie
he
wanted
to,
and
in
some
ways

A
Complete
Unknown is
interesting
precisely

because
it
is
a
willfully
withholding
portrait
of
an
enigmatic
star.
Then
again,
it’s
hard
to
make
a
completely
satisfying
movie
about a
subject
that
its
director
seems
to
believe
cannot
be
understood.

Additional
Thoughts:

-The
other
key
player
in
this
biopic
is
Johnny
Cash,
a
colleague
and
admirer
of
Dylan’s
—
and
the protagonist
of
a
previous
James
Mangold
movie
biopic, Walk
the
Line,
which
starred
Joaquin
Phoenix
as
Cash.
This
time,
Boyd
Holbrook
assumes
the
role,
and
mostly
plays
the country
singer
as
a
lovable
rogue
rather
than
a
tortured
gunslinger.
It’s
fun
to
see
Mangold
present
another
side
of
Cash,
even if only
for
a
couple
of
scenes.

RATING:
7/10