- A COMPLETE UNKNOWN
- Starring: Timothée Chalamet and Edward Norton
- Directed by: James Mangold
- Rating: R
- Running Time: 2 hrs 41 mins
- Searchlight Pictures
Our Score: 4 out of 5
Nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Motion Picture of the Year and Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role (Timothée Chalamet), “A Complete Unknown” is a superb biopic that can be discussed in the same breath as “Bohemian Rhapsody”, “Walk the Line”, and “Ray” to name a few. Much credit goes to director and co-writer James Mangold for crafting such an engrossing film even though the central character, while legendary, is not the most likable guy in the world. Chalamet, who already had a great career ahead of him thanks to roles in “The King” and the “Dune” flicks, delivers a nuanced, career-defining performance that cements him as being one of the best cinematic actors alive.
Born Robert Allen Zimmerman, a 20-year-old Bob Dylan (Chalamet) arrives in New York City in 1961 after hitchhiking from Minnesota. With only his guitar and duffel bag, Dylan seeks to visit his musical idol, Woody Guthrie, who is slowly dying from Huntington’s Disease. When he finds the hospital Guthrie is at, Dylan performs a song he wrote just for him in front of Guthrie and fellow folk musician Pete Seeger (Edward Norton). It’s a pivotal moment as Dylan manages to impress both men. Afterwards, Seeger takes Dylan under his wing and helps him get the gigs he needs to start a career.
As his career starts, Dylan meets a girl named Sylvie Russo (Elle Fanning) and charms her enough that they begin a romantic relationship, which falters because of Dylan’s aloofness and his reluctance to share anything about his past. While Sylvie is away in Europe, Dylan encounters fellow folk singer/songwriter Joan Baez (Monica Barbaro, “Top Gun: Maverick”) and a subsequent tumultuous relationship unfolds. The film also delves into Dylan’s increasing feelings of being pigeonholed as one specific type of singer. His sense of diminishing freedom as an artist causes him to rebel against everyone’s expectations, including Seeger, who sees Dylan as the savior of folk music. Encouraged by Johnny Cash, Dylan gets some mud on the carpet by going electric with his music.
Chalamet’s portrait of Dylan is an immersive experience as he displays a similar talent to disappear into a character like the great Daniel Day-Lewis. Whether it was “The King”, “Dune” or “Wonka”, Chalamet has a knack for pulling us into his performances and not letting us go. Of course, the Academy Award-nominated Norton is spot on with his role as he plays Seeger as a man desperate to have Dylan be a folk messiah only to end up driving him away. Barbaro, also an Academy Award nominee, is nothing less than a revelation while Fanning brilliantly infuses her character with a sense of tragic resignation.
“A Complete Unknown” is a lot to take in, but Mangold keeps a steady pace by not doing a lot of jumping forwards and backwards. He ensures the music selection speaks for the times and for what the characters are going through, and the costume designs perfectly capture the period of 1961-67. It’s all part of a grand movie watching experience anyone, especially Dylan fans, are sure to love.
“A Complete Unknown” receives ★★★★ out of five.