A Complete Unknown Movie Review

I usually hate biopics about musicians and artists. There may be no type of people less interesting and unimportant to make a biopic about, unless it’s a movie about a filmmaker. Further, most of these biopics follow a similar arc: rise to fame, ego and drugs and/or disease gets the best of them, movie over.

There are exceptions of course, and the Bob Dylan picture A Complete Unknown is one of them.

Written and directed by James Mangold and starring Timothée Chalamet, A Complete Unknown follows the singer-songwriter’s rise from obscurity to fame, but defies the standard formula by looking squarely at his formative years and nothing else. Spanning just a couple of years, the movie is an immersive and enthralling look at this eccentric and influential character.

Chalamet, as he tends to be, is excellent. Oscar caliber. Expect a nomination.

The rest of the cast, which includes Elle Fanning, Monica Barbaro (as Joan Baez), and Ed Norton, matches him step for step. Fanning, who excels at looking like she is always about to cry, offers an emotional performance as contrast to the seemingly always-bored/annoyed Dylan. Norton gives one of his best efforts in many years. Scoot McNairy is also good in a small and understated role, playing Woodie Guthrie.

The music helps. While I usually hate biopics about musicians, if a director packs such a film with great music… well, it goes a long way. That’s why I enjoyed Bohemian Rhapsody even though most critics unfairly hated it, and hated the Robbie Williams biopic Better Man, partially because I didn’t know who Robbie Williams was, partially because his music is trash, and partially because they replaced him with a CGI chimpanzee.

A Complete Unknown is a complete film thanks to Mangold’s deft handling of the material, but he also wisely fills the movie with Bob Dylan hits. I notoriously know absolutely nothing about music, and frankly had no idea most of his songs were his songs. Learning lessons, I suppose. Shockingly, Bob Dylan has some great music. Who would have guessed.

I usually hate biopics about musicians–have I said that before?–but A Complete Unknown is different. Thanks to James Mangold’s talent behind the camera, a strong screenplay that bucks convention, and terrific performances all around, it’s one of the better movies of the year.

Review by Erik Samdahl unless otherwise indicated.