Time: 140 Minutes
Age Rating: M – Offensive Language
Cast:
Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan
Edward Norton as Pete Seeger
Elle Fanning as Sylvie Russo
Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez
Boyd Holbrook as Johnny Cash
Scoot McNairy as Woody Guthrie
Director: James Mangold

A Complete Unknown is the James Mangold’s Bob Dylan movie, which has been in the works for years, and had Timothee Chalamet set to play the lead role. I’m not familiar with Bob Dylan outside of a couple of songs and it did seem to be yet another music biopic, but with Mangold and Chalamet I was at least interested. For what it was, I thought it was pretty good.

Unsurprisingly, A Complete Unknown plays it pretty safe as a music biopic; it has a straightforward and conventional approach to the subject matter and is going through the motions. That being said, unlike most biopics which attempt to cover most of the subject’s life, it instead covers just the first 5 years of Bob Dylan’s career. As a result, it doesn’t feel overly ambitious, and it allows time for the movie to breathe instead of rushing through everything (though I’m sure there are notable parts of his life and career that didn’t make it in). While I wouldn’t say that I was super riveted throughout, I was interested enough and wasn’t really bored. One aspect which might put some people off is the fact that the movie does not offer much interiority to Dylan or try to get inside his head as much (also in contrast to most music biopics). This seems to be a deliberate decision; he remains a bit of a mystery and A Complete Unknown instead serves as a portrait of a complicated person. I was personally fine with this choice.

Timothee Chalamet delivers one of his best performances in his portrayal of Bob Dylan. He believably conveys his arrogance, selfishness and pretentiousness, along with his undeniable talent. Chalamet particularly shines in the music scenes and is great with playing instruments and singing. The supporting cast is great too, with top notch performances from Edward Norton, Elle Fanning and Scoot McNairy. Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez was the standout for me, she really was a revelation here. While he’s not in the movie much, Boyd Holbrook as Johnny Cash was certainly a scene stealer whenever he showed up on screen.

James Mangold’s direction is solid on the whole, nothing spectacular but does what it needed to do. It’s well shot, and the sets and costumes feel accurate to the 1960s time period. It also has some good use of music, and the music sequences are well done.

A Complete Unknown is a conventional, but nonetheless solid and well directed music biopic and character study, largely benefitting from its incredible performances.