| Worth seeing: | as an authentic, nostalgic journey through the early years of Bob Dylan's career, that entertains through music and performances, without the need for much dramatic tension |
| Director: | James Mangold |
| Featuring: | Timothée Chalamet, Boyd Holbrook, Charlie Tahan, Dan Fogler, David Alan Basche, Edward Norton, Elle Fanning, Eriko Hatsune, Monica Barbaro, PJ Byrne, Scoot McNairy, Will Harrison |
| Length: | 141 minutes |
| Certificate: | 15 |
| Country: | US |
| Released: | 17th January 2025 |
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
In 1961, a 20 year old folk singer, calling himself Bobby Dylan (Timothée Chalamet), arrives in New York City – less to “make it,” as is so often the case, than to visit his hero, Woody Guthrie (Scoot McNairy) in hospital.
Woody’s friend and fellow folk legend Pete Seeger (Edward Norton) is at his bedside and seeing the visitor’s guitar case, invites him to sing for them. Spotting his obvious talent, Pete takes the newcomer under his wing.
Before long, Pete secures Bob a set at a Manhattan folk club, where he’s seen by the rising star Joan Baez (Monica Barbaro) and her manager Albert (Dan Fogler) – who’ll snap up any talent he sees, for his own benefit – of course – not theirs.
But with the support of Pete and Albert, Bob is soon recording an album of traditional folk songs, while Joan is introducing Bob’s own compositions into her sets.
As Bob’s star continues to rise, he gets to record his own songs, perform alongside Joan and soon becomes even bigger than her.
An obvious attraction between the pair is complicated by the fact that he’s begun a relationship with a local artist, Sylvie (Elle Fanning), and he starts to fall out with his biggest backers when he decides to put the acoustic guitar away for a while and dabble in rockier music.
WHAT’S IT LIKE?
Bob Dylan certainly wasn’t a complete unknown for long – soon after he arrived in Manhattan, fate – or was it calculation? – brought him together with enough key figures in the folk music world that his evident talent was quickly spotted and pounced on.
He was soon playing clubs, recording albums, headlining festivals – with songs that now define the era, such as Blowin’ in the Wind, The Times They Are a-Changin’ and Like a Rolling Stone – and hanging out with fellow stars, such as Joan Baez and Johnny Cash.
The director James Mangold follows one of the key figures of 1960s popular music from his rise from nothing, in 1961, to a key performance at the Newport Folk Festival, four years later, when he angered half the audience so much that they threw shoes at him, while the others delighted in rocking to Maggie’s Farm – a track so far from the quiet, lyrical folk songs that made his name that it was later covered by Rage Against The Machine.
This provides the film’s key moment of drama, which – these days – feels a little odd, as the whole point was that folk purists didn’t want him to go electric, but even Like a Rolling Stone, with drums and an amplifier is – in truth – no less of a folk song.
The performances are all exemplary – with Timothée Chalamet looking and sounding the part, both while talking and singing. Edward Norton as the kindly mentor, Monica Barbaro as his sultry soulmate – or folkmate and Elle Fanning as the sidelined girlfriend – renamed at Dylan’s request – all strike the right note.
The real Bob Dylan’s approval of the project gives his biopic a degree of authenticity that many such films lack. Fans will love the music but even people without a particular interest in Dylan will recognise and enjoy one classic after another and as a musical, it’s very much the kind where the songs are generally sung from the stage – or furniture in more intimate moments – but there are no song-and-dance routines in the street.
Where this story, perhaps, diverges from many others in the genres is that you would often expect obstacles to be thrown in the way of the protagonist as they fight to rise to the top of their field – lessons they have to learn – in the recent Robbie Williams biopic Better Man, for example, his career in is jeopardy when he is sacked from Take That and he has to learn to be – as the title suggests – a Better Man. In A Complete Unknown, there’s none of that – Bob Dylan is clearly talented from the start – he rises, but doesn’t fall – nothing can stop his ascent – the only conflicts come from him being a bit of a cad, letting his emotions sway between two women, and being a bit of a self-important know-it-all, when he refuses to take advice on where to take his career – but, of course, he was right.
You do feel for those who end up being pushed aside by this musical genius, although you also feel that you have to accept that if you hang around in these circles, that’s the kind of behaviour you’d expect – and ultimately, it always feels more important that he ends up where we already know he does.
Unusually for the genre, you don’t have to like this man himself – or even his music – to enjoy this film. For a film with little real dramatic tension – and somewhat of a pompous protagonist, James Mangold and his cast manage to produce a highly entertaining, authentic trip to early 1960s New York, where we all get to enjoy hanging around folk bars and festivals and watching one of popular music’s most influential figures emerging from his cocoon.