A COMPLETE UNKNOWN 😊

The music in A COMPLETE UNKNOWN is a 🤩. Make that a 🤩🤩. But the strong musical numbers and performances can’t save a biopic that never really tells us who its protagonist is. Throughout the film, which takes place over the period 1961-1965, Dylan makes a lot of choices, but we never learn why he makes them other than ‘because he did.’ His talent comes naturally to him, yet we never learn how these lyrics and notes come to him or what inspired them. I left the cinema feeling like Bob Dylan is still a complete unknown.

Timothée Chalamet is an actor who continually surprises me. I underestimate him, and then he bowls me over, giving me one incredible performance after another. He’s mostly fantastic here, and the moments I wasn’t 100% sold felt like they were because of James Mangold’s direction, not Chalamet giving it everything he could. This is probably a good time to admit that I’ve never liked Bob Dylan’s singing voice. Before I saw the film, I even remarked to several friends that I’d “never really been into Dylan.” After seeing A COMPLETE UNKNOWN, I realized I was wrong. I love a lot of his songs, I just mostly prefer versions that were performed by others… like Joan Baez. Monica Barbaro, as Baez, steals every scene she’s in, especially the musical performances. I was blown away by her every time she opened her mouth to sing, and that’s a further testament to Baez’s immense talent as well. When Baez is on screen, Dylan is secondary. Not only with her, but there were also several moments in the film where Dylan was the least interesting character on screen. Whether it was with Baez, Pete Seeger (Edward Norton), or Johnny Cash (Boyd Holbrook). Between a strong cast and the enigma that Dylan is, especially when not performing, he faded into the background and let these others onscreen take the spotlight. 

A COMPLETE UNKNOWN, co-written by Mangold and Jay Cocks, features far more musical performances than we’ve seen in a lot of other biopics, for better or for worse. On one hand, we only see Dylan as the singer-songwriter without ever knowing much more about who he truly is. On the other hand, the musical numbers are extraordinary. Is it bad that I liked Chalamet singing Dylan’s music more than I liked Dylan singing his music? Elle Fanning portrays Dylan’s girlfriend, listed as Sylvie Russo, in the credits, but based on Suze Rotolo, his real-life partner at that point in his life. While Fanning is wonderful, I was frustrated with her relationship with Dylan. But life can’t be all rainbows and puppies, and at least I know why she acted the way she did toward him: love. I’ve been there myself, freely giving my love to another who was never as committed. This film version of Bob, whether fictionalized or not, is constantly aloof: to Sylvia, to Joan, to everyone except his guitar, his harmonica, and his music. I wanted a story that dug deeper. Why did Bob come to New York when he did? What did he truly see in the people around him? Sylvie/Suze, Joan, Pete, etc… While Bob tells a story through each of these songs, we still never get any visceral reactions to the 1960s and all the upheaval that came with it. Times, they were a changin, and Bob’s music did along with it. The audience is shown this as he glides from acoustic folk hero to rock & roller, but Mangold’s choice to never leave Dylan’s singularly focused bubble left me feeling incomplete. There are a few quick glimpses at the world at large through television and radio soundbites but they ring hollow. For example, why did Dylan perform at the March on Washington? If you’re coming to see A COMPLETE UNKNOWN to get an answer to this or find out why the social justice messages in his music were so important to him, this isn’t the movie. 

A COMPLETE UNKNOWN is currently playing exclusively in theatres.