A Complete Unknown

Tribute biographies have become an increasingly popular film genre in recent years, though, truthfully, they’re not all of the same caliber. Content and authenticity play significant roles in their overall quality, but, as experience has shown, these traits can vary widely, depending on the picture. As for writer-director James Mangold’s homage to musician-folk singer-songwriter Bob Dylan (Oscar nominee Timothée Chalamet), the film presents viewers with a mixed bag on these fronts. While this effort seems to mostly get things right in matters of authenticity, it comes up somewhat short on content, despite its protracted 2:21:00 runtime, what should amount to sufficient duration to nail down the most crucial cinematic particulars. “A Complete Unknown” follows Dylan from his arrival in New York in 1961, where he quickly became the latest sensation on the Greenwich Village folk music scene, through his rise to stardom as an emerging music industry icon and culminating in his controversial performance at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, where he traded in his acoustic guitar for an electric model, a switch met with mixed reactions but that launched him in innovative new directions musically. Along the way, viewers are let in on passing scenes from his personal life, such as his friendships with fellow musicians Pete Seeger (Oscar nominee Edward Norton), Johnny Cash (Boyd Holbrook) and Woody Guthrie (Scoot McNairy), as well as his passionate but stormy romances with Sylvie Russo (a pseudonym for real life love interest Suze Rotolo) (National Board of Review Award winner Elle Fanning) and fellow folk singer Joan Baez (Oscar nominee Monica Barbaro). But, regrettably, much of the narrative is little more than a loosely strung together collection of sequences designed to showcase an array of Dylan’s greatest hits from the early days of his career, as well as those of his peers. While the songs are indeed capably performed by the actors themselves, after a while though, the film feels more like an anthology of music videos than an insightful biography. In fact, Dylan’s character comes across as largely enigmatic and inscrutable, a take on his persona alleged to be true to form but that doesn’t offer a great deal of enlightenment into his nature – that is, other than often making him look like a first-class jerk (the noble content of his social activism compositions notwithstanding). Consequently, this candid but somewhat unflattering approach almost makes one wonder whether a protagonist like Dylan is innately worthy of such an homage, even if the finished product is on point (and ironically lends credence to the meaning of the film’s title, whether intentional or not). All things considered, on balance, the filmmaker’s effort here is passable as a capably made tribute bio, with generally fine performances (especially Fanning, who genuinely should have earned supporting actress award kudos over her somewhat overrated co-star), commendable period piece production values and a fine soundtrack (if one is an ardent Dylan fan, that is, something I honestly can’t claim to be). But is this release really worthy of all the awards season attention it has garnered? That seems like something of a stretch to me, but, given the lackluster nature of the crop of 2024 awards season candidates, the pickings have admittedly been somewhat slim. Devotees of the protagonist are virtually certain to come away from this offering suitably impressed, though the rest of us are more likely to heave a modest shoulder shrug and move on to the next movie.

<em>'A Complete Unknown'</em> is a biopic worth watching. I only know of Bob Dylan by name and possibly some vague recognition of a few of his songs, as is usual for me it seems; uncultured swine. Therefore, I was only coming into this to see how it came out as a film - it's very good! Timothée Chalamet's portrayal is impressive for the large majority, I will say his schtick comes across as a little forced in one or two parts (only one or two) and I also had difficulty totally understanding him in a few moments (only a few). Edward Norton is good too, I thought he'd feature more; if only because I saw him on the promo trail with Chalamet a lot. Elle Fanning and Monica Barbaro offer noteworthy performances, everyone on the cast is perfectly fine to be fair. The music seems well done to me, again I'm not someone who definitively knows Dylan's work but it felt well shown. It's possibly too prevalent, which is a weird thing to say about a musician biopic but there's a lot of music in this. The end at the festival is the scene that I'll remember most from this, the sound design is particularly excellent; was practically bouncing in my seat due to the noise. If I was to mention any negatives, or at least things that aren't proper positives, it would be the pacing and run time. Not that I'd explicitly class those as bad parts of this though.