A Complete Unknown – REVIEW

Timothée Chalamet in A Complete Unknown


Musician biopics are something that I’m very partial to, especially when an actor just sinks into a role. However, the worst of the worst can be painful to sit through. The worst ones just seem tone deaf more than anything, and the best paint an image of who the subject is, with the good, bad, and ugly parts. While it definitely does lean in the more “wow, what a guy he is” angle, Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis is one of my favorite movies of the decade so far. It captured the energy that Elvis had at his heights, but the only real critique I have is that Priscilla Presley was just left by the wayside for most of that movie. It felt poetic that a movie surrounding her life, directed by Sofia Coppola, released just a few months later and feels monumental. Coppola’s Elvis is kept at a distance because you know how Elvis was. A Complete Unknown, James Mangold’s second go-around at a music biopic after 2005’s Oscar-winning Walk the Line (and a great title choice), treats Bob Dylan like Coppola treated Elvis: at a distance. Dylan, who’s a famously private person, is someone I really don’t know a lot about, mainly with his music. He’s been a personal blindspot of mine, and if I’m being honest, the only album I’ve heard of his the whole way through is Planet Waves. I’ve heard a lot of the popular tracks, obviously, but my Dylan knowledge is surface level. If you’re looking to learn more about Dylan, A Complete Unknown is not that movie. If anything, I’m Not There, a much more experimental film where multiple actors like Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, and Heath Ledger personify Dylan’s different personas across his career, offers more insight on how Dylan is seen. Timothée Chalamet, an actor who I’ve warmed up to over the years, has the best performance of his career so far as Dylan. That charm that’s been persistent in a lot of Chalamet’s performances may not be the highest (“You’re kind of an asshole, Bob”), but what he nails is how monumental Dylan feels even just as he’s starting off. People already know the words to “The Times They Are A-Changin’” when he performs it for the first time, and it just works. It also helps that Chalemet is backed by a monumental ensemble cast. Edward Norton brings a sincere politeness to the table as Pete Seeger, and Monica Barbaro is arguably the biggest revelation of the whole movie, playing Joan Baez. Both Barbaro and Norton are Oscar-nominated for the movie, and I’d argue that in another year, they’d be in the winning conversation. Boyd Holbrook is criminally underused as Johnny Cash, but whenever he’s on screen, it feels like Cash is brought back from the dead. Scoot McNairy is also very impactful as Woody Guthrie in a small role, when Guthrie is at the end of his life. Another huge standout to me is Mangold’s direction, which is very deserving of the surprise Oscar nomination it got. There are so many moving parts to A Complete Unknown: multiple great performances, the immersive sound design, even how this movie looks. The lighting, in particular, is very showy when playing with venues that Dylan and Baez are playing at. It’s all Mangold here, and for anyone that wants to become a director, this is a great showcase. As someone who never really “got” Bob Dylan, A Complete Unknown not only won me over, but it’s also one of the best biopics of the decade so far. I really thought that this would be the Timothée Chalamet show, and while I would’ve been okay with that, it was that and so much more. Major stuff.


Ryan’s Grade: A-