James Mangold’s A Complete Unknown examines the emergence of Bob Dylan from the Greenwich Village folk music scene in 1961 to a turning point in his career in 1965. I honestly have no real connection to Bob Dylan. I, of course, know who he is and some of his music and his general persona, but, while having respect for him as an artist, I can’t say he ever really meant that much to me personally. I was curious if that would make me more or less inclined to like this film than someone who is a huge Dylan fan. On the one hand, I wouldn’t always be clocking what facts they got right or wrong. But on the other hand, maybe it wouldn’t resonate with me as much. I can’t really compare my experience of this movie with that of any diehard Dylan fans, but I can tell you that I did enjoy this movie. It surprised me in many ways. Mostly in that this is not a traditional biopic. We do not get Dylan’s full life story from birth to present day. The film zeroes in on a specific moment in time and Dylan’s life and career and kind of just ambles through that in a very “high on vibes, low on plot” way. It’s less about the story than it is about the feeling of the moment.

What I do know about Bob Dylan is that he has always been an enigma. And this movie doesn’t really function to teach you anything about him. It’s not a full-fledged, factsheet biography and it’s not a deep dive into his inner psyche either. While still being a formulaic biopic in some regards, the movie floats somewhere in the middle. Bob is presented as an enigma but the movie doesn’t interrogate him as a figure. The real Dylan is so mysterious and unknowable that the film doesn’t even attempt to solve him. (See, the title works on 3 levels! “A Complete Unknown” is a lyric from Dylan’s song “Like A Rolling Stone”, it characterizes him at the start of the movie before his rise to fame, and it describes the ultimate, unknowable-ness of the man himself.) Director James Mangold said in a Q&A about the movie that the film is not about him being an enigma and that lead actor, Timothée Chalamet, “cannot play a question mark”. I don’t know if I necessarily agree with that statement but I do think it was an interesting and intentional choice for the film.

Instead of exploring him, A Complete Unknown just shows Bob as he is, without any real interiority, with his music as the closest thing we have to a window into his mind, and the music really is at the forefront. The movie is less about him as a person and more about the experience of being in his orbit and watching him move through the world. It’s not asking “what does genius do to a person?” but, instead, “what effect does genius have on others?” Bob says himself in the film, “You know, people ask where the songs come from, but they don’t really want to know where the songs come from. They want to know why the songs didn’t come to them.” As if someone else’s genius is a reflection of our own inadequacy. We regard genius and talent with admiration, envy, shock, awe, fear, and love. I would say almost 50% of the movie is shots of the supporting characters gazing at Bob while he performs with a combination of all of those emotions in their eyes. We get that it means he’s special. But the looks say much more about them than it does about him.

So if the movie isn’t trying to explain Bob Dylan or teach us about him, what is it trying to say? Anything? I’m not sure if there’s an overarching theme here but the line that stuck out to me the most was when Johnny Cash tells Bob to “track some mud on the carpet”. It’s advice so important he actually gives it twice. We can take it to mean two things: create a disturbance in the status quo and leave a mark. Bob will go on to do both of those things. But changing things is never an easy path. It’s kind of contradictory the way so much of the folk music scene was about social justice and fighting for change but something as seemingly minor as Bob Dylan moving from the folk genre into a more rock sound (get you a man that can do both) was met with such outrage. People are scared of change. Even the ones who think they’re pushing for it. Bob took Johnny Cash’s advice and ended up changing music and history forever. Seeing as it’s the beginning of a new year and most of us are thinking about changes we can make in our lives moving forward, I think keeping the idea of “track some mud on the carpet” somewhere in the back of our minds is good motivation. 

The movie also briefly touches on Bob’s relationship with fame (spoiler alert: he doesn’t love it) and his struggles in personal relationships. Even though the real Dylan and his team were involved in the production of the film, I appreciated that they didn’t shy away from portraying the bad along with the good. Bob is kind of an asshole. He’s specifically called that by Joan Baez in the film (and I’m sure in real life too). He’s distant and aloof and self-centered in his relationships with the women in his life and he’s defiant of people who helped him to achieve his goals of stardom. This behavior is sometimes disappointing but also sometimes injects a bit of humor to the film when he’s being more of a wise-ass. A pattern that becomes clear about being around genius is you can never get too close. There is always a distance because how could you ever truly understand someone like that? Particularly in Bob’s relationship with Sylvie. When she finds scraps of new songs he’s working on, he snatches them back, not allowing her to see inside his process. But when he’s performing at the 1964 Newport Folk Festival, Bob sings “The Times They Are A-Changin'” for the very first time. Sylvie tears up as she watches, realizing he won’t share songs with her but he’ll share them with the world. And as the crowd erupts, she has to share him with the world.

I have seen some people say that this is not really a movie. It’s more like a concert film because so much of it is musical performances. I was surprised at the amount of songs this movie contains, most of which are performed in full. Personally, I enjoyed it because it did really set the vibe of being there in this moment and witnessing these performers and also allowed the music to shine and speak for itself. I felt like the “The Times They Are A-Changin'” performance at Newport was like the “Shallow” performance in A Star is Born. It’s not the climax of the film plot-wise, but emotionally this is the peak. The swell of feelings the performance evokes is moving and thrilling and just absolutely hooks you. Some of my favorite shots in the film are one where the spotlights on the stage illuminate the actors and blur out the crowds so it feels like just us and the singers there in the moment with the music.

The musical numbers would not be nearly as impactful were it not for the performances of the actors. Timothée Chalamet is a star. What more can I say? He is electric and magnetic and just loses himself in the role. Sometimes when a brand-name celebrity plays a part, it can be hard not to just see the person instead of seeing the character they’re playing. But almost from the jump I could forget that I was looking at Timothée Chalamet on the screen. Because of delays in the production of this movie due to COVID and then the Writers and Actors Guild strikes, he was given extra time to refine his vocals and guitar-playing skills. It definitely paid off and was wildly impressive. In addition to everything he did within the movie, Timothée has also been on a press run for the ages recently, creating viral moment after viral moment. It’s clear that he’s gunning for the Best Actor Oscar and he very well might get it. Elle Fanning is always delightful and Edward Norton also disappears into Pete Seeger in an amazing performance. But I think the real revelation of the film is Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez. She’s beautiful and grounded and has such a powerful aura it’s hard to take your eyes off her. Monica has also said that she learned to sing for the movie. I will say that again. She LEARNED TO SING for the movie. Like Joan Baez. She learned to sing like Joan Baez and she sounds absolutely unbelievable. (I took voice lessons back in the day and they obviously didn’t take. Maybe I should’ve gone to her voice coach… Go check out the soundtrack for the movie, by the way, if you haven’t.) I was thrilled to see her get an Oscar nomination. The talent in this movie radiates off the screen.

Because much of this movie rests on creating a vibe, your mileage with it will likely depend on how much you like the vibe it’s going for. I had a lot of fun living in this world. I liked the music scene, the aesthetic of the era, and especially retro New York City. It was cool to recognize places I know and consider the cultural importance of them. The Gaslight Cafe I know from The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel so I enjoyed seeing it in a different context in A Complete Unknown. The movie also employs news broadcasts throughout to help root the story’s place in history.

A Complete Unknown does not have a lot of plot and it does not have a lot of drama. What it does have is many musical performances and collections of little moments. Additionally, focusing the film on such a specific time period centers the story on this movement in music and culture that grew both with Dylan and around him. Edward Norton said, “You’re not only not doing a biopic; what you’re really doing is an immersive experience in what a certain time felt like. And that’s hard to do. I think that it’s hard to abandon a narrative and focus on milieu and characters and relationship and cultural context and show how it produced a moment.” A Complete Unknown is less about the man and more about the moment. And, in that way, it does feel like an immersive experience. One that I enjoyed. This movie won’t be for everybody, but I think anyone could appreciate the incredible performances by the actors in this film. Whether you care about Bob Dylan or not, I think A Complete Unknown is worth checking out.

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