Movie Review: 'A Complete Unknown'

A Complete Unknown

Directed by James Mangold

Written by James Mangold

Starring Timothee Chalamet, Edward Norton, Elle Fanning, Monica Barbero, Boyd Holbrook

Release Date December 25th, 2024

Published December 18th, 2024

There are many sharp elements in A Complete Unknown. Timothee Chalamet’s prickly take on Bob Dylan is one, Monica Barbero’s sharp performance as Joan Baez is another, and Elle Fanning’s keen eyed take on Dylan’s muse, Suze Rotolo, renamed Sylvie Russo in the film, is equal to her co-stars. But it is in the softer, gentler moments of A Complete Unknown where I really enjoyed the film. In particular, Scoot McNairy portrays the dying days of music icon Woody Guthrie wordlessly but with remarkable warmth and expression. Seeing Dylan gently full of awe as Guthrie urges him to play a song for him is one of my favorite moments of any film in 2024.

That I don’t completely love A Complete Unknown has a lot to do with my lagging ability to tolerate music biopics. While A Complete Unknown does have a stronger approach than many other recent biopics, the thudding Aretha Franklin biopic, Respect, comes unfortunately to mind as an example of rote hero worship, director James Mangold nevertheless falls into many of the typical traps of the hagiography as his reverence for Dylan and his culture shifting performance at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival renders the director something of a fanboy rather than a clear eyed director.

A Complete Unknown begins on a strong note, Bob Dylan arrives in New York City from his home in Minnesota and immediately goes looking for his hero, Woody Guthrie. First encountering another legend, Pete Seeger (Edward Norton), he fails to recognize Seeger, a foreshadowing of how Seeger has long been overlooked in the music world following Dylan’s electric explosion at Newport ‘65. Nevertheless, after watching Bob perform for his friend Woody in his hospital room, Seeger brings Dylan home and gives him a place to stay, write music, and connect with local venues where he soon becomes a fixture of the folk scene.

This is all building to the moment when ‘Dylan Goes Electric,’ but the best aspect of A Complete Unknown is not so much a consistent and cohesive narrative but rather, the performance of Timothee Chalamet who perfectly captures the unknowability of Dylan. The title, A Complete Unknown, is, of course, a reference to a legendary Dylan lyric but, it also encapsulates Dylan the man, an elusive figure who, though he’s been a celebrity for going on 6 decades, remains a figure of illusion. We don’t know a lot about Bob Dylan beyond his music and what his many muses have said about him.

Timothee Chalamet, though he is the lead in A Complete Unknown, keeps us at a distance from Dylan. He’s often impenetrable, you don’t get much insight into his motivation aside from the fact that he doesn’t like being told what to do. His relationships with Pete Seeger and with Sylvie are revealing in how Dylan can be loving and kind but also how insular he can be, willing to respond to the kindness and compassion of others with suspicion or lack of gratitude. Chalamet’s Dylan is not interested in telling you about himself, he simply wants to write and perform music and occasionally have a woman in his bed, whether for sex or inspiration.

Where A Complete Unknown comes up short is in giving us anything we can really connect to on an emotional level. Dylan’s performances are great and Chalamet does a lovely approximation of Dylan on stage, but it’s all too sanitized, it’s all too pristine. As we approach Newport, the film becomes more of a historical documentary than a narrative film. Mangold is eager to get to Dylan’s legendary ‘Goes Electric’ set but fails to give those not in the know about how important this moment is, a reason to really care.

A common fault of the biopic is to become a list of important moments. Rock biopics especially can feel like you should have a bingo card so you can mark off the moments you know from history. Part of this is that the main character is emotionally distant, leaving the film without an anchor at the heart of the movie. But part of it is also Mangold’s reverence and respect for Bob Dylan that leads to him shaving down some of the sharp edges of Dylan’s persona. The film can’t balance the desire to please Dylan, even if that’s not possible, and the desire to get to the root of what makes Dylan such a compelling figure.

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