Film Review: A Complete Unknown

 

Sexuality/Nudity Mature

Violence Acceptable

Vulgarity Mature

Anti-Catholic Philosophy Mature

I am not a big Bob Dylan fan.  But A Complete Unknown does not let that be an obstacle to enjoying this movie.

The film takes a look at a slice of life of Bob Dylan (Timothee Chalamet).  It begins as he hitchhiking to New York City to see that ailing Woodie Guthrie (Scoot McNairy).  There he meets Pete Seger (Ed Norton) who is Guthrie's closest friend.  Dylan impresses both of them with his music and Seger takes him in.  Dylan's reputation grows.  Along the way he becomes involved with the socially involved Sylvie (Elle Fanning).  He also meets fellow folk singers like Joan Baez (Monica Barbaro).  As he struggles with fame, he also struggles against the expectations of the folk music community.  The deeply independent Dylan seeks to be his own person and not be defined by one genre.  This leads to a final confrontation at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival.

As I wrote at the top of this review, I am not a big Dylan fan.  I have a passing familiarity with his work.  But this movie does an excellent job of bringing in the uninitiated.  The failure of the movie The Bikeriders was that it was about motorcycle culture, but it did nothing to help the audience see the appeal of it.  This is different than a movie like The Devil Wears Prada.  I have no interest in the fashion industry, but that movie made the whole culture fascinating.  A Complete Unknown helps someone like me appreciate not only Dylan, but folk music in general.

Throughout the movie, I found myself being drawn in more and more to Dylan's songs.  I was also surprised that I knew more of his work than I realized.  I have to give credit to director James Mangold for the way he recorded the music.  The actors recorded all the songs live as they were filming.  It gave it a pure, unvarnished feel that seemed authentic to the folk tradition.

 Chalamet holds the entire movie together with his particularly challenging way.  The script depicts Dylan the way many musical biopics treat their subjects: an artistic genius who pushes people away with their self-centered behavior.  I don't know what it is about famous artists that makes them think that their talent entitles them to treat others like crap.  "I'm so mysterious and deep that you can't possibly understand what I'm going through, so I will treat you like the peasant you are."  Dylan is no exception.  He is callous, dismissive, and casually cruel.  For him, people are means to ends.  He never quiet sees people as intrinsically valuable and thus he always seems perpetually lonely.

The script also makes this a challenge for Chalamet because we don't get a strong sense of Dylan's internal life.  In Mangold's other musical biopic from 20 years ago, Walk the Line,  the story is told almost completely from Johnny Cash's perspective.  In A Complete Unknown, while we are with Dylan for most of the movie, we are always on the outside looking in.  We never really know what Dylan is feeling or thinking.  For that reason, the depiction of Dylan should be completely repugnant.  But Chalamet infuses him with an incredible sense of charisma.  We understand why others around him would find him intriguing.

At the same time, Chalamet keeps hinting at deep feelings just below the surface.  This makes you want to know more so you can break through that wall.  The closest we get is a brief scene where out of nowhere Dylan says to Sylvie, "When people ask me where the songs come from they're not asking me where the songs come from.  They're asking why it didn't come to them."  This one moment reveals just enough of his isolation and pain that it makes you want to stay with him.  Chalamet maintains that delicate balance while continually drawing us in.

These moments of insight don't absolve Dylan, but they aren't meant to either.  Mangold's Dylan Is a puzzle that appeals and repels.  You see this especially with Baez.  She is someone that is adored by men who kiss her feet.  But Dylan says of her at an event "She's pretty.  She sings pretty.  Maybe a little too pretty."  And with that insult, she is drawn to him.  Dylan's boldness and talent make you want to win his approval so you too can be in the club of cool.

All of the performances are generally good.  Norton is great as Seager.  It would have been easy to portray him as Salieri to Dylan's Mozart.  Instead, Seager comes across as a sincere, decent, and caring musician who wants to make the world a better place with song.  He wants to nurture Dylan and bring him to a place beyond ego and placing others first.  As Dylan's fame and rebellion pull him away, Norton shows us Seager's frustration and pain in a way that is much more relatable than Dylan's.  Barbaro plays Baez as outwardly confident, but inwardly insecure, which Dylan constantly exploits.  We also see this in Fanning's performance.  Dylan wants her affections but is not willing to be vulnerable.  Fanning shows us the frustrations of loving someone who will not love you back.

Mangold does a good job of transporting you to the early 1960's, where political unrest is bubbling under the surface and the pleasantness of the 1950's is about to be disrupted.  He uses Dylan to personify this upheaval.  He makes it look like an appealing, yet unsettling time.  He places the musical numbers in a context where they can have their strongest emotional and narrative effect.  I found it fascinating that he used the song "That's Not Me" in almost the exact same narrative way in this movie as he did in Walk the Line.

This movie is meant to give you an experience of Dylan and his music.  It neither condones nor condemns him.  And even though I understand Dylan's life, music, and world a bit more, as to who he is inside... he remains unknown.