Timothée Chalamet becomes Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown—Mangold’s mesmerising biopic is a musically delightful, visually lush ode to an artist.
An unknown Bob Dylan (Timothy Chalamet) hitchhikes to New York City, walks into a bar, and finds out where his music idol, Woody Guthrie (Scoot McNairy), lives. Upon meeting, Guthrie asks him to play something for him. Unbeknownst to him, Dylan has written a song for him. Pete Seegert (Edward Norton), a good friend of Guthrie’s, happens to be there too. The camera stays on Chalamet as he takes a seat. And then he starts singing.
One of the most amazing scenes in movies from last year plays out as Chalamet sings ‘Song to Woody’, sings in Dylan’s voice, plays the guitar, performs perfect fingerwork, and acts the moment out. Guthrie and Seegert sit transfixed, and so do we. With this scene, we know what we’re in for. Chalamet inhabiting Dylan’s aura delivers the movie performance of a lifetime. The dedication and skill on display are astounding. He may not have won the Best Actor Oscar this time, but the award won’t elude Chalamet for too long.
It’s not just him in The Complete Unknown, though. Edward Norton, Monica Barbaro (playing Joan Baez) and Boyd Holbrook (playing Johnny Cash) all do their own musical performing. It is a medley of Dylan’s greatest hits from 1961 to 1965, performed by these wonderful actors, taking us back to a time when America was going through a cultural shift. Dylan absorbed all that happened around him (his personal life as well as the political climate of the day) like an industrial-grade sponge and turned out some of the greatest songs ever written.
After their initial meeting, Seegert introduces him to the folk scene. Sparks immediately fly when Dylan meets Joan Baez for the first time. She’s the new and shiny jewel of folk music while he struggles to make ends meet. But game recognizes game. Monica Barbaro captures the soul of Baez’s voice and sings just as well, if not better. She is dark, moody and beautiful.
At a concert, Dylan meets Sylvie (Elle Fanning, de-beautified to play the audience surrogate), the all-American girl, further refined. Through her, Dylan gets a closer look at the Civil Rights movement which moves him too, as is evident in some of his songs. Besides his talent, James Mangold and Jay Cocks (screenplay writers) don’t refrain from shedding light on the negative traits of Dylan’s personality.
The Complete Unknown is an enchanting experience until you notice that the movie is light on plot. At one point, Dylan decides to experiment with electrical sound and at the time it caused quite a hoopla. Strange, strange world we live in. The crux of the story lies in an artist’s will to follow his instincts even if it costs him the affection of his fans.
James Mangold in my mind always strikes as a commercial director who makes above-average movies, until I sit down to watch one of them. Maybe because his style doesn’t overshadow his work. And maybe because he doesn’t write all his movies. He writes this one and so has more control which enables him and his cinematographer Phedon Papamichael to give the movie a documentary-like flow. A crystallized documentary that plays Dylan’s greatest early hits live. As a writer, he refrains to dig deeper to find drama in Dylan’s life.
For better or for worse, the movie doesn’t follow the usual biographical movie beats. And as such, Mangold succeeds in setting a relaxed mood filled with delight and awe. The Complete Unknown is a beautiful gift to Dylan fans and a fantastic piece of movie-making that will certainly stand the test of time thanks to the talented cast and crew.
Bob Dylan – ‘Everyone asks where these songs come from, Sylvie. But then you watch their faces, and they’re not asking where the songs come from. They are asking why the songs didn’t come to them.’