A Complete Unkown (2024)

 

Like the previous film, I have yet to have a chance to provide complete thoughts on this film. I liked it quite well, and I will share those thoughts later this week. I am simply trying to keep my 2024 time line complete with this post. 

UPDATE

Sorry, it has taken me a month to get back to this. I have been traveling from one coast to the other and doing the podcast in-between, so I have just been busy.

The best thing about the movie is the original music, re-recorded for the film by the lead actor. The songs are classics, and most of them are delivered in the folk style that Dylan first emerged thru. I can't say how much fidelity was paid to the story surrounding the creation of the songs, but it feels quite realistic and I think people who are interested in this kind of process will enjoy the film quite a bit. The film really does seem to be immersing us in a time and place.

One of the problems I have seen in biopics is that in trying to cover too much territory, they spread the interesting elements too thin. Trying to get to everything means you skimp on what might be more important. This film does not make that mistake.  The director James Mangold did a great job covering Johnny Cash over his lifetime in "Walk the Line" but wisely chose to focus a specific period in Bob Dylan's career. Dylan arrives in NYC in 1961, with a guitar and a dream to connect with singers he has admired, especially Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger. The opening scenes of Dylan singing with Seegar are sort of magical in the way it dawns on the established Folk legend, how the young newcomer is fully formed. 

Timothée Chalamet does the heavy lifting by not only acting the part of a reclusive songwriter, but he also performs the music and plays the instruments. This is a fully committed performance and not just casting of someone who matches Dylan's physical appearance. In the personal relationships with women, Dylan remains an enigma as to his feelings. The women in the story act as muses but can't get him to emotionally engage like a true human being. Elle Fanning plays Dylan's main girlfriend named Sylvie Russo for the film. Her attraction to and frustration with Dylan are completely understandable based on the screenplay. Monica Barbaro portrays Folk singer Joan Baez, known as an activist in social causes, and Dylan's on again off again affair with her is a catalyst for some of the fireworks that accompany the story. She is also excellent.

If you are not familiar with the pop scene of the early 60s, this will be a revelation to you. That folk music was thought of as more pure and honest than Rock and Roll will be new to audiences who have thought of the rock era as the defining part of mid-century culture. Pete Seeger, played wonderfully by Edward Norton, sees the rock elements creeping into Dylan's music as an apostasy. Those who don't know the story of the 1965 Newport Folk Festival and the upheaval that Dylan presented will get a good look at the kinds of infighting that purists can engage in. It also works as a metaphor for the political realm with Dylan surprisingly being the realist and Baez and Seeger representing the true believers and their prejudices. 

"A Complete Unknown" was always destined for awards recognition, given the track record of the cast and director. I found it a satisfying film that I will probably revisit soon. It just missed my end of year top ten favorites, although in terms of quality, it certainly deserves to be in the mix.