A Complete Unknown (2024)

By: Mike Ward on Thursday, January 02

R Running Time: 141 mins

SHOULD I SEE IT?

YES

The long-anticipated biopic on the formative years of Bob Dylan’s career is an entertaining, musical dramatic journey that fans of Dylan will likely enjoy.
Timothée Chalamet gives a performance that finds the actor not only absorbing completely into the role, but also reminds audiences just how talented an actor he truly can be.
Chalamet’s singing impresses, but the film also is buoyed by great supporting performances, including Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez and Elle Fanning as Sylvie, Dylan’s girlfriend when he first arrives in New York City.

NO

At 141 minutes, A Complete Unknown could benefit from a shorter run time. The film starts to lag in places and a tighter cut would only enhance the viewing experience.
Falls into the “highlight reel” trap most biopics suffer from, as the film starts to move through events and abandons the more character-driven motivations the film benefits from in the first hour or so.
Though Bob Dylan has endorsed the screenplay and Chalamet’s performance, A Complete Unknown does seem at odds with itself at times, as the revolutionary artist being featured becomes victim to a rather routine and conventional film.

OUR REVIEW

Though it eventually falls into the trap of most biopics, and becomes less a story about an individual and more a highlight reel of said individual’s successes and disappointments in life, A Complete Unknown is nonetheless an intriguing story of Bob Dylan’s emergence from the 1960’s folk music scene into the polarizing, groundbreaking, rock star of the mid-1960s and beyond. His transition from an acoustic singer/songwriter musing about the world around him, to that of a plugged-in guitarist speaking out loudly and proudly in protest to the world around him, proves the basis of James Mangold’s new film.

Mangold, as you may recall, co-wrote and directed Walk the Line in 2005, which earned Reese Witherspoon an Academy Award for her portrayal of June Carter Cash and Joaquin Phoenix a Best Actor nomination for playing Johnny Cash. Mangold returns to a similar time period here, encompassing the years of 1961-1965.

Dylan’s arrival in a bustling New York City is first introduced to us through the music of Woody Guthrie, one of the singer’s inspirations. We soon see a young Bobby Dylan (Timothée Chalamet) on his way to meet Guthrie (Scoot McNairy), who has fallen ill and is battling Parkinson’s Disease and hospitalized. Unable to speak, Guthrie’s best friend, folk singer/songwriter and activist Pete Seeger (Edward Norton), is in the room when Dylan arrives. After some back-and-forth, Seeger goads Dylan into playing a song Dylan wrote for the folk music icon. After singing the song and impressing both men, Seeger proceeds to take him under his wing.

Biopics can be tricky stories to tell. Essentially, you are telling an audience that this is a person of great significance and then, in turn, must lay out all the reasons why. Filmmakers have a few ways they can go with these types of films. They can choose to gloss over less inspiring elements of a person’s life to try and paint them in the most positive light possible. They can bundle together events and create situations that never happened to consolidate timelines and give a general understanding of a person’s accomplishments. Or, they can simply check off a list of events. In rare instances, we sometimes do get a “warts-and-all” story that is unafraid to hide flaws and bad decisions and tell the truth about the main subject. Those movies are admittedly few and far between.

Oftentimes, this is why biopics become “highlight reel” types of stories. They are easier to lay out. “Highlight reel” movies can simply move from one event to the next and the general hope in this approach is that we leave the theater telling ourselves, “Yeah, that person was really great.”

In a recent interview, Mangold said that the art of telling a good biopic is to try and dig beneath the surface-level highlights and find the reasoning and sensibility behind what drives someone to pursue success. To his credit, you can see those efforts attempted in Mangold’s screenplay, co-written with Jay Cocks (Gangs of New York), and adapted from Elijah Wald’s 2015 book “Dylan Goes Electric!”

Rather quickly we realize that Dylan is quite the prickly pear from a personality standpoint, similar to how his public persona has been illustrated in stories and books written about him. Chalamet also plays him as a withdrawn and introspective creative, a puzzle that those around him are constantly trying to solve.

Two women ultimately strike a chord with young Bobby. At first, he meets and falls into a relationship with Sylvie Russo (Elle Fanning), a college student subscribed to the counterculture movement of the time. In reality, Sylvie Russo is inspired by the real-life relationship Dylan had with Suze Rotolo, an individual, who at Dylan’s request, did not have her real name featured in the film.

When Sylvie has to leave to go on a college trip, the two argue and Sylvie demands Dylan open himself up and share more of himself in his music. Leveraging a few industry relationships he has established, he is soon on stage with a rising star named Joan Baez (Monica Barbaro). The two develop a romantic relationship, and, eventually a love triangle forms between Dylan and the two women who each prove to be something of a muse for the young artist.

A love triangle angle may prove distracting to the ultimate story being told, but Chalamet pulls no punches in diving into the complexities of his character. He gives a tremendous performance and quickly disappears into his characterization. Brandishing character flaws and/or weaknesses within Dylan, Chalamet almost begs us to admire and respect the creative mind of Dylan while he and Mangold seem unafraid of what opinions we may form as we get to know more about this character. Most performances in movies like A Complete Unknown are carefully constructed and managed. Here, it seems as if we are invited to become as frustrated with Bob Dylan, the character, as those who are trying somewhat unsuccessfully to connect with him on a deeper and more personal level.

Though Dylan appears aloof, self-absorbed, and an almost impenetrable force, Chalamet humanizes him to the point where we can see why Sylvie and Joan are drawn to his complicated personality. The actor spent more than five years preparing for the role, and pours himself into creating a 20-something upstart, who initially does not realize just how good he is at pursuing his passion of writing and performing. Chalamet plays guitar, harmonica, and sings Dylan’s songs in much the same way that Austin Butler’s vocals were integrated with Elvis Presley’s vocals in the 2022 film Elvis.

The messiness of Dylan finding himself is intriguing. After mere months in New York City, he no longer sings quietly for himself and a few dozen people. His unique and distinctive singing voice complements a groundbreaking approach with his songwriting. Early on in his career, when a cover album bombs because his record label is afraid of putting out an album of his original, politically-charged material, Dylan, spurred on by both Sylvie and Joan Baez, grows at odds with constraints placed upon him by his manager (Dan Fogler), by Seeger, and by others in his inner circle.

From a timid, curious and quiet kid arriving in New York City in 1961 to the folk singer who plugged in and angered and energized the music industry in 1965, Mangold does a rather effective job of showing us the stumbles of Dylan’s maturation. However, the movie starts to grow long at 141 minutes and when we start jumping from moment to moment, the film feels like it’s rushing to wrap things up and threatens to undo the patience that worked effectively in helping us connect with the main characters.

A Complete Unknown is strengthened by Elle Fanning and Monica Barbaro’s wonderful performances as two influences who present different pathways for Dylan to consider. However, this is Timothée Chalamet’s film - a tour de force performance that reminds us that he just may be one of the most talented actors of his generation. Though Mangold falls victim to the “highlight reel” effect in the film’s final act, his film, much like its main subject, is a curious, enigmatic affair worth exploring.

CAST & CREW

Starring: Timothée Chalamet, Edward Norton, Monica Barbaro, Elle Fanning, Scoot McNairy, Boyd Holbrook, Dan Fogler, Norbert Leo Butz, P.J. Byrne, Eriko Hatsune, Will Harrison, Charlie Tahan

Director: James Mangold
Written by: James Mangold, Jay Cocks
Based on the book “Dylan Goes Electric!” by Elijah Wald
Release Date: December 25, 2024
Searchlight Pictures

The long-anticipated biopic on the formative years of Bob Dylan’s career is an entertaining, musical dramatic journey that fans of Dylan will likely enjoy.

Timothée Chalamet gives a performance that finds the actor not only absorbing completely into the role, but also reminds audiences just how talented an actor he truly can be.

Chalamet’s singing impresses, but the film also is buoyed by great supporting performances, including Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez and Elle Fanning as Sylvie, Dylan’s girlfriend when he first arrives in New York City.

At 141 minutes, A Complete Unknown could benefit from a shorter run time. The film starts to lag in places and a tighter cut would only enhance the viewing experience.

Falls into the “highlight reel” trap most biopics suffer from, as the film starts to move through events and abandons the more character-driven motivations the film benefits from in the first hour or so.

Though Bob Dylan has endorsed the screenplay and Chalamet’s performance, A Complete Unknown does seem at odds with itself at times, as the revolutionary artist being featured becomes victim to a rather routine and conventional film.