The Infinite Bard

I already knew I would love this biographical film. Those who know me are aware that I am completely in love with movies about my musical heroes.

The Complete Unknown doesn't try to tell the whole story of Bob Dylan, but rather focuses on a very specific moment in his journey. The film takes us from when he arrives in New York in 1961 to that historic show at Newport in 1965 when he decides to plug in his electric guitar in front of a crowd there only to hear folk classics.

It’s just four years, but it’s in these years that Dylan, at 19 and just another guy trying to make a living from music, becomes a pop star overnight. His rise was as fast as a guitar chord exploding in the air!

The film is a gift for those who love Dylan’s music and history. The soundtrack, released on December 20, 2024, features 23 tracks, most of them sung by Timothée Chalamet himself, who, in addition to singing and playing as if he were Dylan, captured his gaze, gestures, and even his demeanor. It’s not just the voice, it’s the soul of the guy, and that’s clear in every scene.

And speaking of that, it’s worth mentioning that Dylan read the script, made some comments to director James Mangold, and in the end gave his approval saying, "Go ahead, make it happen." So, for those who think the film is not faithful to reality, it might be because the "reality" of an artist like Dylan is more complex than any simple explanation.

The film is over two hours long, but it flies by. The songs are immortal, the scenes are full of poetry, and the story, which covers the beginning of Dylan's career, his loves – like the romance with Suze Rotolo (the "Sylvie" in the movie) and Joan Baez – and the creative process behind songs that still move generations, is fascinating. And the most impressive thing is to see how Dylan was always seeking to reinvent himself. He didn’t fit into any box, and the film shows this in a very sensitive way.

In the end, everything he did, from Blowin' in the Wind to Like a Rolling Stone, wasn’t just music. It was a reflection of an era, a way to express the changes in the world, politics, and life. And it’s no wonder he won the Nobel Prize in Literature. The man made music an immortal form of poetry.

And that’s it. The Complete Unknown is another one of those films that you watch and feel something in your soul, as if you're hearing the wind blowing in your direction, feeling that art will never stop surprising us.

Digging deeper into the plot (attention: spoilers ahead):

The film The Complete Unknown takes us on a dive into the heart of Bob Dylan's revolution, a journey that starts in recording studios and spreads throughout the world of music, from folk to rock. One of the first scenes that struck me was the recording of "Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right". With the simplicity of voice and guitar, the scene captured the soul of Dylan’s music, as if I were there in the recording studio, feeling every chord, every word. At that moment, Dylan was already a rising star. When he receives $10,000 and a bag full of fan letters, it’s clear that Dylanmania was just beginning.

The scene with Johnny Cash becoming a Dylan fan also carries weight. It was the meeting of two worlds – country and folk – and the film makes that shine with the beauty of the growing bond between the two. Dylan, with his unique energy, was recognized by Cash, who saw something new in him, something that broke barriers.

Then, there’s the 1964 Newport Folk Festival. When Dylan plays “The Times They Are A-Changin’”, the song sounds like a cry for an entire generation, the phrase "Don’t criticize what you can’t understand" resonating in the air as an invitation to change, to evolve. In 1965, Dylan’s discomfort with fame begins to show. In one scene, he enters a store, and when a salesman asks if he has kids, Dylan answers with a joke that hides his exhaustion: "Yeah! A thousand of them!" It’s a response that says more about his state of mind than any words could.

While the world was preparing for change, the electric guitar was starting to cause a stir. Seeger and Lomax argue about it while Dylan records Highway 61 Revisited, and the film doesn't shy away from showing the growing tension between Dylan’s desire for innovation and the tradition he was breaking. The recording process is portrayed with impressive fidelity, capturing not just the music but the conversations, the ideas that were born in the air. These scenes reminded me of The Bootleg Series Vol. 12: The Cutting Edge 1965–1966, where we can hear not just the songs, but the intentions behind them, the moments that became history.

The presence of people like Bob Neuwirth, Al Kooper, and Mike Bloomfield also marks this phase of transition. The scene where Kooper, hidden from the producer’s view, plays the organ on Like a Rolling Stone is one of those moments that show how great music can emerge from improvisation and surprises in the studio. And when Bloomfield and Kooper join in, magic happens. The film makes us feel the energy, the creative chaos that was necessary to create something so monumental.

The 1965 Newport Folk Festival brings even more tension. Baez, visibly upset with Dylan, and the conflict between the new and the old, folk and rock, is palpable. There’s a beautiful scene between Dylan and Sylvie (Suzy Rotolo), where they light cigarettes, almost like a farewell, like in Now Voyager, which fits perfectly with the film’s changing atmosphere. Baez and Dylan perform It Ain’t Me Babe, and the audience feels the weight of separation, of something that is no longer what it once was. When Sylvie decides to leave, it’s as if the film is marking the end of a phase in Dylan’s life.

Amid all of this, there’s Peter Seeger, who tries to warn Dylan about the choice to play with an electric guitar, a warning that seems more about protecting the folk legacy than about Dylan’s music itself. Dylan, as always, remains silent, and that silence speaks louder than a thousand words. He knows he can’t go back. The decision is made.

Then comes the famous scene of Dylan at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival. He plays Maggie’s Farm, and the audience, expecting something more familiar, feels bewildered. It’s there that the revolution happens. When Lomax argues with the sound technicians and Peter Seeger threatens to cut the cables, the film makes us feel the tension, the resistance of the old against the new, as if the world was wondering if it was truly ready for this. When Dylan finally plays Like a Rolling Stone, the shock and surprise turn into a historic moment, an explosion of sound and change that reverberated throughout contemporary music.

The ending, with Dylan and Woody in the hospital, closes this journey almost poetically. It’s not just about the music, it’s about the legacy, the impact Dylan had on every person, every note, every word. The film not only tells the story of an artist, but the story of an era that was transformed through art.

Final thoughts:

As a Dylan fan, I absolutely loved the film. Timothée Chalamet is brilliant, the characterization is impeccable, and the setting is a true portrait of the era. The film leaves you with the desire to see a sequel, exploring the next chapters of Dylan’s life: the famous motorcycle accident, John Wesley Harding, The Band, and so many other phases. But at the same time, we know that a sequel wouldn’t be enough to capture the vastness of the universe Dylan built throughout his existence.