[Rating: Minor Rock Fist Up]
The life of musician Bob Dylan has been put on film many times before. In 1967, the documentary Don’t Look Back showed the man himself in numerous concert appearances. 2007s I’m Not There was inspired by his life in various stages, told by different performers. Now, a slice of life into the early days of Dylan’s life is A Complete Unknown. This music biopic doesna com’t strive for anything new, the wheel isn’t reinvented, but has at the heart a good performance from Timothée Chalamet.
Directed by James Mangold, who also directed one of my favorite musical biopics Walk the Line, we learn about how Dylan found himself in New York City as an up and coming folk singer. His idol Woody Guthrie (Scoot McNairy) is sick with complications of Huntington’s Disease and he wants to show him the songs he has written with his and singer Pete Seeger’s (Edward Norton) approval. Dylan also meets a fellow singer, Joan Baez (Monica Barbaro), with whom he would collaborate with on numerous occasions. She gives him inspiration for many pieces of his work and the two will often be more than just off and on again working partners. Dylan also meets and falls for Sylvie Russo (Elle Fanning) with whom he will be inspired even further from her presence in his life.
This film also discusses how revolutionary Dylan was to the music community at the time. Using acoustic instruments made Dylan a folk singer that people really were inspired by. However, all of this changed when Dylan switched to electric instruments at a 1965 concert, making many of his fans upset that he would switch to something that didn’t sound like his normal music.
I can’t say that I know really anything about Dylan. I know he is a very down to earth guy and performer, and that he won an Academy Award. That is really it. However, in watching this movie, I am now more interested in listening to his greatest hits. The movie itself however doesn’t really tell me much about the man in general. This felt more like a specific slice of life into a moment in his life that he was very unphased by. Chalamet is perfect for the role, because to me, he is such an unphased by everything kind of guy, that the role wasn’t hard to accomplish. This wasn’t a Walk the Line situation where Dylan had anything extreme happening in his life, but simply that he wanted to make music, that he wanted to make.
Dylan fans will love this movie, and get a lot out of it. I think for somebody like me who knows nothing about him, it’s a pretty good biopic. Its length can be felt a lot of the times as many things felt repeated, but the musical stylings of Chalamet (who gets the voice down!) is enough to keep watching.
Christian Ramos is a classic film fan, having had the dream to host Turner Classic Movies for years now. He also has a large amount of Oscar trivia in his head, remembers dressing as Groucho Marx one Halloween, and cherishes the moment Julianne Moore liked his tweet.
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