A Complete Unknown

Writer & Director: James Mangold

Writer: Jay Cocks

A Complete Unknown follows the early days of the career of the musical legend that is Bob Dylan (Timothée Chalamet). It starts in 1961 and his meeting  Woody Guthrie (Scoot McNairy) and Pete Seeger (Ed Norton). It follows Dylan’s journey from struggling musician, to star, via his relationships with Joan Baez (Monica Barbaro) and Sylvie Russo (Elle Fanning), the creation of his classic music and his run-ins with the “traditional” folk music scene. Concluding in his appearance at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival.

While I enjoyed this, for the awards buzz around it, it was a pretty pedestrian nuts and bolts biopic. It never does any more than takes a surface look at Dylan’s early career and relationships. The story beats seem no more than a time filler between recreations of Dylan’s music, rather than a chance to learn more about the man and his life.

Which is a pity, as the story let’s down Chalamet’s committed performance, turning it into a set of impressions of key Dylan performances. The supporting cast have mixed amounts to work with, Ed Norton perhaps has the most, but Elle Fanning and Monica Barbaro are both underused and under-explored. Scoot McNairy does manage to do a touching turn as a seriously ill Woody Guthrie.

But it’s this lack of depth in the story that leaves it all as no more than a celebration of Dylan’s work, rather than any kind of detailed look at the man and what drives him. While Chalamet delivers a performance that captures the “tortured genius”, the film also fails to really explore how that impacts those around him either.

A Complete Unknown is an enjoyable if, rather nuts and bolts biopic. It’s a celebration of Dylan’s classic back catalogue, but it never goes beyond that and you learn very little about the man, his motivations and relationships. It’s a bit of a pity as it fails to take advantage of Chalamet’s hard work in portraying Dylan. Enjoyable but a little unfulfilling.