A Complete Unknown (2024)

A Complete Unknown is an excellently written and acted, star-studded (Timothée Chalamet) biopic directed by James Mangold of four crucial early years in the life of iconoclastic genius, musician and poet, Nobel Prize-winning Bob Dylan.

The Times, They Have a-Changed

by Alexa Dalby

A Complete Unknown
0.0 out of 5.0 stars

CAUTION: Here be spoilers

After seeing A Complete Unknown, I’m a convert. To Bob Dylan, to Timothée Chalamet. Even to Joan Baez. A Complete Unknown is also Dylanologist- (and Dylan-) approved.

The film covers four crucial years for Dylan and for the USA (as shown on TV news). From Dylan arriving in a cold New York as a 19-year-old in January 1961 to see his idol Woody Guthrie, dying in a public hospital to his seminal, audience-dividing appearance with an electric band at the Newport Folk Festival in July 1965. Fame came to Dylan very quickly and has never left him. Nationally in those years, there was the Cuba crisis, the danger of nuclear war and the assassination of President Kennedy.

The film conflates several well-known incidents and characters. Yet, as Edward Norton (Pete Seeger in the film) says “We’re not writing a Wikipedia page here”. It works narratively. Like Spielberg’s West Side Story, it changes things around from the original but Spielberg and Mangold both get the essence. Inside Llewyn Davis mined similar territory, but this is the real deal – or as real as Hollywood makes it.

Like David Bowie, Dylan constantly reinvented himself and was constantly one step ahead of public opinion, driving it forward – here, in terms of moving controversially from ‘pure’ acoustic folk music to electric, folk-tinged rock. It is astonishing how many iconic songs he produced – wrote and performed – in those early years. Like Freddie Mercury in that other music biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, his name change came right from the start, or even before it.

Timothée Chalamet superbly plays the iconic musician from boy to man, shown visually by his developing image, in Mangold’s biopic and is joined by a dazzling supporting cast: Edward Norton inhabits Pete Seeger, Elle Fanning as Sylvie Russo, Boyd Holbrook as Johnny Cash, Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez, Dan Fogler as Albert Grossman, PJ Byrne as Harold Leventhal, Norbert Leo Butz as Alan Lomax, Will Harrison as Bob Neuwirth and Scoot McNairy as Woody Guthrie.

Chalamet, who plays Bob Dylan, reveals how the legendary singer-songwriter contributed directly to the script, even crafting lines that made it on screen and ensuring former girlfriend Suze Rotolo’s name was changed.

Barbaro shared insights from her conversation with Joan Baez, whom she portrays, highlighting the folk singer’s honesty and generosity. Norton, taking on the role of Pete Seeger, reflected on the deceptive simplicity of these musicians’ performances, emphasising the virtuosity required to recreate their seemingly effortless stage presence. Both Chalamet and Norton did their own singing.

Norton also spoke about the vast storehouse of Pete Seeger’s material on YouTube and how useful it was to him in preparing his role, including many episodes of Seeger’s TV showcase for folk musicians Rainbow Quest, which influenced avuncular Fred Rogers’ children’s show, as portrayed in A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.

The fictional blues singer Jesse, who appears in Rainbow Quest in the film, is played by one of Muddy Waters’ real-life sons (Big Bill Morganfield).

In sum, A Complete Unknown is much better than expected. It’s a non-showy, well-written and well-acted biopic that avoids standard biopic tropes.

A Complete Unknon is released on 17 January 2025 in the UK. The film previewed in London at a packed screening at Picturehouse Central on 14 January 2025.

Join the discussion