Miss Flicks

A Complete Unknown: Film Review

Timothée Chalamet is coming for his second Oscar nomination with his portrayal of music legend Bob Dylan in James Mangold‘s biographical drama A Complete Unknown.

This film avoids the typical biopic trap of trying to cover a famous person’s entire life in one feature. Instead, it smartly focuses on a five-year period. It begins in 1961 with Dylan’s arrival in New York City and covers his subsequent rise to fame on the folk scene and friendship with Pete Seeger (Edward Norton) before wrapping up in 1965, when he causes outrage by ‘going electric’ at the Newport Folk Festival. 

Due to the pandemic and strikes, Chalamet ended up spending six years on and off preparing to play Dylan, taking guitar, harmonica and singing lessons, and this dedication and commitment truly paid off. He sings live in character and does a sensational job. I’m not a Dylan aficionado but he sounded quite like him to my untrained ears. The appearance is the main setback but you can suspend your disbelief thanks to his big fuzzy hair and black sunglasses. I struggled to understand what he was saying sometimes but I guess he was going for accuracy over comprehension.

You don’t come away from A Complete Unknown having a deep understanding of Bob Dylan but that’s not a surprise considering the real man is reclusive, private and unknowable. He has an aloof air about him so it makes sense that he remains at a distance from us here.

I didn’t warm to Dylan but I found my emotional connection with his supporting actresses. Elle Fanning deserves more recognition for her portrayal of Dylan’s first New York girlfriend Sylvie Russo (based on Suze Rotolo). I felt so much empathy and compassion for her watching her boyfriend become famous, outgrow her and develop feelings for fellow singer Joan Baez (Monica Barbaro). She doesn’t always articulate her emotions but her face says it all. Barbaro was also fantastic as Baez; singing, playing guitar and giving us more emotional depth than Dylan.

Director and co-writer Mangold, adapting Elijah Wald‘s book Going Electric, does a good job making a biopic about such an enigmatic musician. It’s not the most satisfying biographical drama, but it’s exciting watching Chalamet work his magic.

In cinemas from Friday 17th January