A Complete Unknown

A review

I saw this in the movie theater, a place I rarely go anymore. If you have any liking or respect for Dylan, go see it. It’s in theaters now so it can qualify for an Oscar for 2024.

There are more photos and videos in this review than most of my posts. Why not? It’s about a movie with well-known people, after all.

One of the first things you wonder about a biopic is, “How good is the star?” If the person playing Bob Dylan or Johnny Cash or Ray Charles doesn’t embody that person for you, that’s the end of the movie. Timothée Chalamet doesn’t look exactly like Dylan, except for the hair, but who cares? Anyone can do a bad Dylan impression (even me!), but his singing in the movie is much better than one of those.

Jimmy Fallon does a pretty good one ( start at 2:15):

Also here’s an impression of a standard Terms and Conditions agreement, but read by a fake “Bob Dylan”:

You can catch some of Chalamet’s Like a Rolling Stone in the trailer:

He captures the phrasing and the delivery without exaggerating the nasality.

For comparison, here’s the real thing: Dylan at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, one of the seminal moments in rock history and the climax of the movie.

The Man himself tweeted (and yes, this is the real Bob Dylan, not some imposter):

There’s a movie about me opening soon called A Complete Unknown (what a title!). Timothee Chalamet is starring in the lead role. Timmy’s a brilliant actor so I’m sure he’s going to be completely believable as me. Or a younger me. Or some other me. The film’s taken from Elijah Wald’s Dylan Goes Electric – a book that came out in 2015. It’s a fantastic retelling of events from the early ‘60s that led up to the fiasco at Newport. After you’ve seen the movie read the book.

Biopics

Nearly every big star has had a major motion picture, including at least one who was in this film (Johnny Cash). I guess Pete Seeger and Joan Baez don’t merit the big Hollywood star treatment.

I think a biographical movie has to convey, first, what their life was like, second, the impact they had on the world, and third, what the world was like when they appeared. It does not have to be a literal documentary. As a director, you only have two and a half hours, give or take, and the images mainly do the work.

On that score, A Complete Unknown scores big on the first and third requirements, and whiffs on the second. We get the media frenzy over Dylan and the crowd reactions, but really nothing about his influence on the culture. The “folk rock” revolution, e.g. the Byrds or Turtles doing rock versions of his songs, is not touched on at all. The “voice of a generation” label that the media stuck on him, especially the endless repetition of The Times, They are A-Changin’, and which many people took seriously is not covered.

Pete Seeger comes closest with his “teaspoon” story (saying that Dylan had the potential to give the decisive push to The Cause of peace and social justice).

The recent Napoleon movie was a failure on all three counts: it makes Josephine and his supposed obsession with her the center of his character, his impact on Europe is ignored, and the world of the early 18th Century is shown only via the clothes.

Other Characters

Pete Seeger

Norton gives a compelling performance as the Old Left crusader Pete Seeger. You get the impression that he was a nice man, utterly sincere in his convictions, and deeply disappointed when Dylan went electric.

Joan Baez

Monica Barbero gives a convincing portrayal of Joan Baez. She made a big contribution to his early career, taking him out on tour with her and introducing him to her audience. Baez also wanted Dylan to be a spokesperson for the peace movement, but he didn’t want to be predictable or belong to anyone, as he’s subsequently proved over and over.

You can see the real Dylan and Baez here.

Sylvie Russo (Suze Rotolo)

Dylan asked them to change her name in the movie, out of consideration for her privacy.

She’ll forever be known for this one photo, which, thankfully, they didn’t reproduce in the movie

although they did portray the photo shoot, during which someone tells her to come along because she’s in the shot.

This is the only serious flaw in the movie: he did not go on carrying a torch for her after they broke up, and she was not at the Newport Folk Festival with him. In a way this stale Hollywood trope reminds me of Napoleon, where the hero’s character was all about Josephine. In reality, Dylan was living with the woman who eventually became his wife, who’s not even mentioned in the movie.

I can live with omitting events in a biopic, and I can live with conflating them. I get cranky when the movie inserts events that never even came close to happening, just because they sound good.

Epilogue

Other Dylan Movies

In his 60+ years on the public stage, there have been many other movies about Dylan. He’s made his own movies, he’s been in movies: some good (Don’t Look Back), some execrable (I’m Not There). The New York Times runs it all down for you.

Is It True?

Well, it’s true in its fashion. It’s not a documentary. If you don’t care about spoilers: Rolling Stone lists the historical inaccuracies.