TravelingbeebryantRN & Flicks_withNick

Next review from Flicks_withNick is the 2024 Bob Dylan biopic;  A complete Unknown. The movie stars Timothee Chalamet as Bob Dylan, Elle Fanning as Sylvie, Monica Bárbaro as Joan Baez, Edward Norton as Pete Seeger, and Boyd Holbrook as Johnny Cash. The movie is directed by James Mangold, who also directed the Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line. 

The movie spans Dylan’s life through 1961-1965. The movie starts out with Dylan arriving in New York with just his guitar. Along his way he meets his icon Woody Guthrie, and is befriended by Pete Seeger. The movie is a two hour long concert sprinkled in with a love triangle between Joan Baez and Sylvie, and the drama of should Dylan go electric, or stay more to his Folk roots.

I thought this movie was less formulaic than other singer biopic movies. Instead of a dreamer to icon timeline (think Walk Hard movie that makes fun of the formula), the movie is condensed to four years of his young career. This is just one big concert, and most of the dialogue is honestly just Chalamet singing Dylan songs. Are the remaining cast kind of one tuned, and no subplots to flush out these characters? Yes, but honestly it’s really hard to write a complete, honest story of Bob Dylan, and the inspiration of his writings. Even Bob Dylan himself in an interview said he couldn’t explain his inspiration on his early writings. So I appreciated the two hour concert tribute, instead of diluting the allure and mystery of his life.

I was completely blown away from Chalamet’s performance as Dylan. Chalamet spent 5 years learning to play guitar, tune his voice to sound similar, and even learned to play the harmonica for the role. His body language and mannerisms were so on point, that you can tell he studied Dylan a lot. I had a prediction last year that Robert Downey Jr was going to get some serious Oscar Buzz, and he ended up winning supporting actor for Oppenheimer. So I’m saying that I think Chalamet is going to get some serious Oscar buzz for his performance. Let’s see how my prediction lands!

I do have to give a shout out to Boyd Holbrook’s performance of Johnny Cash. James Mangold also directed Walk the Line, which was a biopic of Cash’s career. Holbrook’s performance was the ultimate heat check, where he’s barely in the movie, but it’s awesome. He’s figuratively the only other person who’s cooler than Bob Dylan in the movie, and I like how Bob Dylan knows that too.  Boyd made me laugh (Do you want a Bugle?) , and I wish they explored the relationship more between Dylan and Cash. 

I hope people check out this movie, and if they’ve never heard of Bob Dylan before, I hope this is the platform to enjoy his catalog, and explore more of Dylan. Does it help to be a Dylan fan to enjoy the movie? Of course, but I think it’s still worth a watch to explore a capsule in time to when folk music was a popular genre. As long as you go into the movie not expecting a complex character story, you’ll enjoy the ride. 

After the movie ended, my wife was disappointed that Bob Dylan wasn’t wearing a maroon jacket, and wasn’t singing about his chocolate. I rolled my eyes, because she was talking about Chalamet being in Wonka. I honestly think Chalamet is the best young actor in the industry right now. Anyone under the age of 30 you think is better? Comment your answers!

Flicks_withNick gives A Complete Unknown a rating of 3.5 / 5.

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