Directed by James Mangold
A Complete Unknown is less of a biopic and more of an ambiguously aligned, at times totally inaccurate portrayal of a short span of time in Bob Dylan‘s life, beginning when he arrives in New York City in 1961 and ending shortly after the 1965 Newport Folk Festival.
THE PLOT
After hitchhiking to New York and tracking down his idol, Woody Guthrie (Scoot McNairy), who is in the hospital suffering from Huntington’s disease and being visited by Pete Seeger (Edward Norton), a young Bob Dylan (Timothée Chalamet) is asked to perform for the music legends. He appropriately chooses “Song to Woody,” they are subsequently blown away, and Seeger invites Dylan to stay with him and his family while he gets his footing in the city.
From there, a classic tale of success unfolds. Seeger brings Dylan along to open mic nights, has him perform in front of all the right people, opens him up to the world — and the world reacts in awe. He reaches a level of fame neither Guthrie nor Seeger could have imagined (for him or for themselves), and becomes plagued, maybe even bored, by the demands of popularity.
Ever curious and experimental, he changes his sound often, trying on new genres and styles until he makes the decision to release an electric rock album — a veritable sin the eyes of folk music purists like Seeger and the other founders & followers of the Newport Folk Festival — and, although not entirely true to the events of that night, the film does depict Dylan “going electric.”
Through it all, he manages competing attractions to and relationships with two women, his girlfriend Sylvie (Elle Fanning) and fellow folk star Joan Baez (Monica Barbaro). The character of Sylvie is based on Suze Rotolo, Dylan’s former girlfriend and the co-star of the cover art from The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan.
The plot is more loyal to its source material (the book Dylan Goes Electric! by Elijah Wald) than reality, often merging timelines and introducing different versions of events for the sake of story. But hey, if you want reality, go watch Don’t Look Back (1967) — that’s not really what A Complete Unknown is here for. And that is just fine.
The cast & the musical production
No conversation about A Complete Unknown would be legit without praise for Chalamet’s dedication to his role. For five years, from 2019-2024, he studied tirelessly — watching Dylan’s performances in slow motion to capture every nuance, working with vocal coaches to perfect Dylan’s cadence, learning to play guitar and harmonica.
All songs were performed live on set with era-appropriate instruments and equipment.
Did you skim that, by chance? I’ll put it here again just in case: All songs were performed live on set with era-appropriate instruments and equipment. Full stop.
There isn’t much more to say: You feel like you’re watching Dylan up there.
Norton, too, offers a masterclass in impressions, while Barbaro delivers a view of Baez less familiar to 60s music fans, one that more closely aligns to the truth of her and Dylan’s relationship (something that was carefully concealed then but has been exposed over the decades). It’s a delight to watch. No comment on Boyd Holbrook as Johnny Cash, who, yes, delivered one of the funniest moments of the film when he drunkenly drives away from the folk festival parking lot, but otherwise didn’t land (maybe we were too spoiled by Joaquin).
Final thoughts
There is romance, there is tension, there is conflict, but somehow A Complete Unknown still feels more like an extended music video than a “film.” Maybe it’s because there is a song every 3-5 minutes. To be clear, that isn’t meant as an insult to the movie — it’s incredible to watch Chalamet perform with such likeness. Barbaro has a stunning voice. Norton deserves his flowers. Hearing those songs and seeing them performed in their original context (or at least as close to their original context as we can get in 2024) is breathtakingly amazing. The movie is beautiful, there’s no other word for it.
But after the criticism James Mangold received for Walk the Line in 2005 — which many claimed oversimplified Cash’s struggles with addiction, romanticized the tension between his first and second wives, and focused too exclusively on a short period of his life — it’s actually wild that he’d choose to do almost exactly the same thing nearly twenty years later. Like, the criticisms are nearly identical. I guess you have to respect him for doubling down, even after the release of Walk Hard (2007).
Regardless, if anything was going to cement Chalamet as the movie star of our generation, it’ll likely be this: The undeniable accomplishment of taking a role so seriously and succeeding. Coupled with his College GameDay appearance and recent SNL double duty, he’s on top of the world.
And he just might deserve to be.
Update: Chalamet didn’t take home an Oscar for Best Actor at the 97th Academy Awards, but he did win a SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role — and his acceptance speech was *chef’s kiss*. Incredible.
This movie is good.
My rating: 4/5
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