In the Bob Dylan biopic "A Complete Unknown," Director/Co-Writer James Mangold ignores many of the conventions associated with this genre, tropes he treated more respectfully in "Walk the Line" and "Ford v. Ferrari." Mangold's non-traditional approach gives him the flexibility to effectively address his decidedly non-traditional subject.
This film is a fascinating mix of fact, outright fabrication, fantasy and supposition. It's a chaotic mixture endorsed by Dylan, who has had his own on-again/off-again relationship with the truth. Dylan once said, "Truth was the last thing on my mind, and even if there was such a thing, I didn't want it in my house." This film is stronger because of the liberties it takes. It mashes together characters and events. It jumbles events with no regard for chronological order. It's as comfortable including events that "might have happened" or "should have happened" as it is faithfully retelling events that are well-documented. It's all in keeping with Dylan's penchant for "self-mythologizing."
"A Complete Unknown" explores the period from 1961-1965, when Dylan (Timothée Chalamet) moves to NYC from Minnesota, meets Woody Guthrie (Scoot McNairy) and Pete Seeger (Edward Norton), becomes part of the folk scene in Greenwich Village, encounters Joan Baez (Monica Barbaro) and has a relationship with Sylvie (Elle Fanning), an artist/activist whose beliefs motivate him to perform at the 1963 March on Washington and to pen "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall" during the Cuban Missile Crisis. This period culminates with Dylan and his band performing with electric, not acoustic, instruments at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965, a controversial event many heralded as the bridge between traditional folk and rock music. Along the way, we see how he deals with his sudden fame, a development as unwanted as it was unexpected.
What distinguishes this film is the acting. All the performers do their own singing. Chalamet is outstanding as Dylan. He does a reasonable depiction of Dylan on stage, but that's the least impressive part of his performance. An eggplant could impersonate Dylan because of his unique singing style. What makes Chalamet's performance so noteworthy is his ability to portray a man who is distant, aloof, driven, uncaring, enigmatic and determinedly self-absorbed - embracing all those negative traits while exuding a charisma that keeps the moviegoer fixated, despite his character being unlikeable in so many ways.
Edward Norton is excellent as stolid, workmanlike singer and banjo player Pete Seeger. Norton's performance demands that we acknowledge Seeger's sense of fundamental decency. Boyd Holbrook has too few appearances as Dylan pen pal and friend Johnny Cash. In the film, Cash encourages Dylan's rebellious instincts, telling him to "go track some mud on somebody's carpet. Make some noise, big D." But the most impressive performance is by Monica Barbaro (the female pilot in 2022's "Top Gun: Maverick) as Joan Baez. With no formal training as a singer or musician, Barbaro prepared for a year for this role. Here, she shows off her strong, clear soprano while portraying a singer whose voice has been described as "incomparable."
The content included in (and omitted from) "A Complete Unknown" is sure to inspire debate and disagreement. I'm confident Director Mangold and the subject of the film wouldn't have it any other way.
