THE BALLAD OF A TRUE ORIGINAL.
While watching this movie, I was reminded of the time I went to see Bob Dylan in concert. It was the tour he did together with Mark Knopfler in 2011. It was cool to see a legend perform, but the show was saved thanks to Knopfler and his band, who were terrific. Dylan’s set was marred by bad sound and a performer who seemed bored by his hits. That’s an important point in this film: never expect Dylan to do what’s predictable, never expect him to follow rules.
Arriving in New York in 1961
We first meet the young Robert Zimmerman (Timothée Chalamet) when he arrives in New York City in 1961. He has no money, but a guitar and a wish to meet Woody Guthrie. The famous folk singer (Scoot McNairy) lies dying in a hospital, in the company of Pete Seeger (Edward Norton). When the young man finds his way to Guthrie and Seeger, he introduces himself as Bob Dylan and plays a song he’s written that charms them. Seeger takes Dylan under his wing and gives him a chance to perform as a bright new folk talent.
The following year, Dylan has a record contract, is dating a pretty girl (Elle Fanning) and becomes intrigued by a fellow folk icon in the making, Joan Baez (Monica Barbaro).
Musical biographies as companion pieces
20 years ago, James Mangold made a movie about Johnny Cash that won Reese Witherspoon an Oscar. Cash has a prominent part also in this film, played by Boyd Holbrook as a hell-raiser, before he quit drinking. It’s easy to see both this film and Walk the Line as companion pieces, but A Complete Unknown has an edge and shows a skill that the director acquired over the years. He’s never really made a bad movie, but this is his finest yet.
Perhaps the fact that I’m not a huge fan of Dylan gives me the freedom to appreciate what the film sets out to do.
There were critics (and I bet more than a few Dylan fans) who believed the film took too many liberties, but I don’t see how that matters much. Perhaps the fact that I’m not a huge fan of Dylan gives me the freedom to appreciate what the film sets out to do: put us in the world that Dylan stepped into when he started out as a folk singer, regardless of what’s true or not. The film has the look and feel of authenticity as it depicts Dylan’s rise and how he quickly came to detest his own fame and felt an urgent need to change, to move on, leading up to that appearance at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965 where he went electric, shocking at least one half of the audience by playing songs that would be part of a generation’s rock revolution. That’s an electrifying sequence, if you will, elevating the tension of the moment and capturing a truly divided audience.
Music performances are beautifully and powerfully recreated by Mangold and his crew; among the film’s pivotal moments are the first time Dylan sings ”The Times They Are a-Changin’”, shortly after Kennedy’s assassination, and his love-hate duet with Baez, ”It Ain’t Me Babe”. The film is brilliantly cast, with Norton as a sweet Seeger, troubled by Dylan’s change; Fanning as a fictional version of Suze Rotolo, Dylan’s girlfriend at the time; and Barbaro as an alluring Baez, increasingly frustrated by the up-and-comer. And then there’s Chalamet, who is completely convincing (also musically) as Dylan. Regardless if you care about the artist or not, it’s a sharp, compelling portrait of a type of young man that many will recognize: brilliant, stubborn, socially awkward and incapable of caring for and expressing love for another person.
Fans of Dylan will likely prefer I’m Not There (2007), a more artistic interpretation of his many facets. Mangold’s movie may be more conventional, but made with irresistible skill.
A Complete Unknown 2024-U.S. 141 min. Color. Widescreen. Directed by James Mangold. Screenplay: James Mangold, Jay Cocks. Book: Elijah Wald (”Dylan Goes Electric!”). Cinematography: Phedon Papamichael. Costume Design: Arianne Phillips. Cast: Timothée Chalamet (Bob Dylan), Edward Norton (Pete Seeger), Elle Fanning (Sylvie Russo), Monica Barbaro (Joan Baez), Boyd Holbrook, Dan Fogler, Scoot McNairy.
Trivia: Co-produced by Mangold and Chalamet. Benedict Cumberbatch and Nick Offerman were first cast in roles, but departed later.
Last word: “The act of getting in the studio before we went out on location to get the recordings down was in itself a kind of training. It was like the actors going through what Bob or Joan [Baez] or whoever went through making an album, and I think it was a huge growth period for them suddenly being able to find the voice of the songs.” (Mangold, Indiewire)