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a complete unknown

★★★★

starring: timothee chalamet, elle fanning, monica barbaro, and edward norton

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REVIEWER: lyall carter

In 1961, an unknown 19-year-old Bob Dylan arrives in New York City with his guitar and forges relationships with music icons on his meteoric rise, culminating in a groundbreaking performance that reverberates worldwide.

From arguably the best comic book film of all time in Logan to the historical racing car film in Ford v Ferrari and the final instalment of the Indiana Jones franchise (which I loved by the way), James Mangold is a director of many genres. But in A Complete Unknown he returns to a genre he’s successfully explored before: the musician biopic. And just like Mangold’s 2005 biopic Walk the Line covering the life of Johnny Cash, A Complete Unknown is a superb film. A biopic with a depth that not only explores the life of its subject but the world around him, A Complete Unknown is a magnificent film that reverberates with a powerful protest against the establishment. 

 

Set in the influential New York music scene of the early 60s, A Complete Unknown follows 19-year-old Minnesota musician Bob Dylan’s (Timothée Chalamet) meteoric rise as a folk singer to concert halls and the top of the charts – his songs and mystique becoming a worldwide sensation – culminating in his groundbreaking electric rock and roll performance at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965.

 

One of the best narrative decisions Mangold makes here is that instead of exploring the entirety of the subject's life, he keenly focuses only on a period of his journey. In doing so, we gain insight into Dylan’s creative process as he crafts some of the best songs of the last century but also of the world of influence around him. 

 

I had never heard of Joan Baez let alone Pete Seeger or Woody Guthrie and Mangold takes the time to explore their contribution to the melting pot that inspired Dylan. Just as an aside, please can someone make a biopic of Seeger’s life with Norton playing him again? That guy was astounding as Seeger. 

 

The slight trouble I have with A Complete Unknown is there is anything remotely revelatory about Bob Dylan's life here and you could be forgiven for walking away from the film feeling as though you hadn’t really got under his skin. 

 

And that’s in spite of an all encompassing, superb performance from Chalamet who never stoops to a mere impersonation of Dylan, but manages to capture his rebellious spirit.

 

A biopic with a depth that not only explores the life of its subject but the world around him, A Complete Unknown is a magnificent film that reverberates with a powerful protest against the establishment.

★★★★

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