The times they were a-changin': A review of 'A Complete Unknown'

Nominated for Best Actor, with some Award-giving bodies adding Best Picture and Best Director, "A Complete Unknown" is the highly publicized Bob Dylan biopic that stars Timothée Chalamet as the enigmatic troubadour and musical icon and is directed by James Mangold. The film opens in local cinemas this Wednesday, Feb. 26. 

It’s set in the early to mid-1960s. It chronicles Dylan’s emergence on the folk music scene, his friendship with Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Johnny Cash, and Joan Baez - and the then monumental decision to turn his back on the acoustic folk music of the time, and go electric on the album, Highway 61 Revisited - where the song Like A Rolling Stone would be the most popular and divisive. 

Chalamet portrays Dylan; Ed Norton is Seeger, Monica Barbaro is Baez, while Elle Fanning plays Sylvie Russo - which is a fictional representation of Suze Rotolo, the girl seen with Dylan on his Freewheelin’ album cover. Dylan requested that Rotolo’s name not be used in the film for some reason. Boyd Holbrook plays Johnny Cash, and Scoot McNairy takes on the role of Woody Guthrie. 

The fantastic thing about this film is how Mangold got the cast all committed and invested in the project, such that they all sang and played instruments. Mangold was obviously after authenticity, so theater audiences can’t say the actors are fingering the wrong chords or faking the musical numbers. And it’s to the actors' credit that they agreed to this.

Dylan was one of those musicians who was hard to pin down; his interview was full of cryptic, misleading pronouncements. And to this day, Dylan has retained that mystique and mystery. So, if you come to this film expecting answers and revelations, you will be sorely disappointed. Dylan was consulted on the film, and it’s obvious he’s still keeping his cards close to his chest. As a result, there are no surprising psychological insights but more of a timeline representation of known events and things that happened to Dylan around this period.

Even the women in his life receive nothing more than a cursory sketch of a portrait. While Russo may have helped expose Dylan to the civil rights movement, we don’t learn much more about her to understand their relationship. Even Baez comes across as more in love with Dylan than he was with her. 

The film works on the strength of Chalamet's performance and the quick pacing. My criticism is that we don’t get a chance to invest in the characters, and we leave the theater with no more precise idea of the man behind the icon, Bob Dylan.