Review by © Jane Freebury
5 Stars
M, 141 minutes
Let ‘em leave, I’m not really here. Ever since Bob Dylan landed he has been hard to pin down, with a reputation as a cagey sonofabitch that is, let’s face it, only fair. Perversely, while it irritates his fans no end and they can leave his concerts in droves, the crowds leaving has no impact on his resolutely taciturn stage presence. It just feeds the legend.
Any number of films have celebrated this great singer-songwriter while they try to nail the man, long before director James Mangold began working on this project. It is a terrific outcome, enhanced by a collaboration with Dylan himself in pre-production and a screenplay with Jay Cocks, who has worked on notable occasions with Martin Scorsese.
A Complete Unknown, set in the 1960s when Dylan was starting out, turns the artist’s perverse behaviour around and looks at it another way. No doubt Joan Baez (Monica Barbaro with her lovely fluty voice) gets it right when she calls him an arsehole. Yet the perceived indifference also allows him to be his own man, operate with a level of artistic freedom and independence of mind to follow wherever his muse takes him. Here, it seems we are witness to the moment he decides to create for himself, not for expectation, and build his incredibly influential body of work.
The outstanding feature of this film is the performance by Timothee Chalamet. The gifted young American actor is a chameleon himself, from Call Me by Your Name, Lady Bird, Wonka to Dune, but his take on the skinny, elusive reclusive artist here is a marvel at every level. And he does all the singing in this long feature film that generously showcases the music at length, rather than snatch a few familiar bars. What a treat.
We’re witness to the moment he decides to create for himself, and build his incredibly influential body of work
The dependable intelligence of Edward Norton shines through as Pete Seeger, the folk singer who helped Dylan get started by introducing him on free mic in Greenwich Village. To see the older folk singer’s reaction to his protegee going electric later at Newport Folk Festival is a clue to the difficulties artists can face balancing their creative energies with the demands of fandom. By that time in 1965, Dylan’s friendship with Johnny Cash was helping the younger man feel free to ‘track some mud on the carpet’, and be himself. Boyd Holbrook is fine as Cash, though I would have appreciated another cameo from Joaquin Phoenix from Mangold’s Walk the Line.
In opening scenes, a young man appears hitchhiking into New York’s Greenwich Village. In closing scenes, he rides his Triumph motorbike away from Newport Folk Festival. The pillion passenger, Sylvie Russo (Elle Fanning), who had accompanied him up there had decided to split once and for all, after recognising her sometime partner’s on-stage chemistry with Joan Baez. There never was a Sylvie, but there was a Suze Rotolo. She has been absorbed into the creative composite that we watch on the screen.
Free of stylistic wizardry and anchored by a truly great lead performance
In a valiant pre-emptive riposte to all the Dylan tragics out there, Mangold has wisely described his movie as a creative interpretation of that time in Dylan’s life, and its characters as composites. I have no problem on this point, but he hasn’t given the ‘invasion’ of British rock and roll its due. The Beatles were already a phenomenon in the US as they were worldwide, before Dylan went electric at Newport. And anyway, that famous jeer of ‘Judas’ from the audience as the performer went electric, exchanging his acoustic guitar for a Fender Stratocaster, was in England.
Many filmmakers, even Dylan directing, have contributed to the legend. Director Todd Haynes’ recent feature, inspired by the many lives of the artist, included Cate Blanchett, Heath Ledger and four others in the central role. Of all the valiant attempts to capture the real Dylan on screen, this movie in the traditional narrative style with a single lead actor is free of stylistic wizardry and anchored in a truly great lead performance.
It’s not for nothing that hundreds of artists like Jimi Hendrix, the Stones and Adele have recorded his material, a songbook compiled over 60 years. Dylan’s version may not be the one that you know by heart.
For this blow-in from Minnesota, the only songwriter to win the Novel Prize for Literature, A Complete Unknown celebrates the moment he arrived. It is a rare treat.
First published 24 January 2024 in the Canberra Times. Also published on Rotten Tomatoes