A Complete Unknown Review: Mostly Solid Biopic

Timothée Chalamet is sensational as Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown, making this film memorable even though it does not stray from your typical biopic formula.

While Chalamet and a few other elements stand out, A Complete Unknown hits some couple bumps in the road along the way. As someone that is most familiar with the period of Bob Dylan’s career covered in this film, it should have been easy to please me. I’m even listening to Dylan as I type and while the positives are ringing in my mind, the times where Mangold’s movie steps on a rake irritate me even more. You will have a good time with it, but also wish for something slightly better. 

Its biggest sin is taking a larger than life figure and telling a particular era of his career in such a predictable way. The film begins as sort of a poor man’s Inside Llewyn Davis (2013), with the only thing missing being the black and white aspect. The tone is quite similar, with Dylan cracking a few jokes, doing a fair bit of traveling and spending time recording and performing. Other than swapping out black and white for a muted color palette, the difference between Llewyn Davis and A Complete Unknown is that this script does not truly dive into who Bob Dylan is. 

There are vague references to his past and the character himself brushes off his lover Sylvie Russo (Elle Fanning, portraying a fictionalized version of Dylan’s then girlfriend, Suze Rotolo) when she asks him. A Complete Unknown unfortunately has plenty of moments like that, where writers James Mangold and Jay Cocks can go beyond what amounts to a Wikipedia article on their subject, and yet, they do not. Part of that is due to the mystery of Dylan himself, but why not go straight to the source and try to get some information that we do not know? 

Screenplay wise, things are pretty straight forward; we see Dylan’s career begin to form and then blossom, along with some nuggets about those big in folk at the time including Woody Guthrie (Scoot McNairy, Argo), who is battling Huntington’s disease, Pete Seeger (Edward Norton, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery), Dylan’s mentor of sorts and Joan Baez (Monica Barbaro, Top Gun: Maverick), with whom Dylan had a tumultuous relationship. Then we get to the part of this story that Mangold and Cocks clearly wanted to tell: Bob Dylan’s transition from folk to electric. 

This section is the film’s strongest, because viewers are exposed to the internal conflict that Dylan felt over the change and his strong desire to evolve musically. We also see the kind of pushback he received from folk loyalists and the support he got from fellow musicians like Johnny Cash (a perfectly cast Boyd Holbrook, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny). Mangold and Cocks, along with Chalamet, put together something in these moments that feels very human. After all, we have all found ourselves in places of uncertainty and faced adversity when we wanted to try something different. Like Dylan, viewers push through because we have a passion for it and are not going to let anyone stop us. If only the rest of the movie had this kind of soul behind it. 

From his opening line, Timothée Chalamet’s portrayal of Bob Dylan will leave you in utter amazement. He is totally committed, rarely slipping out of Dylan’s trademark twang, and capturing a number of the singer’s mannerisms (including his mumbling). Chalamet’s performance is subdued but endlessly charming. He also captures Dylan’s humanity better than the script. You can see the moments of self reflection and the wheels turning when he is writing music all over Chalamet’s face. It is as though we are watching moments that we are not supposed to be, but for once, Bob Dylan lets audiences in. This also applies to his relationships, as viewers are treated to what it is like for Bob Dylan to love and be loved by Sylvie Russo and Joan Baez. Love does not come easy to Dylan and Chalamet’s performance allows the frustration and passion related to that to come through. 

Then you have his work during the musical numbers and my goodness, is he absolutely electric. Chalamet’s singing voice is as close to dead on as one can probably get to Bob Dylan. His renditions of songs such as  “Like a Rolling Stone” and “The Times They Are A-Changin’” give this story so much life, even if they do not have a real visual flair. All of the music is superb, but Chalamet has that “it” factor behind the microphone. 

As great as Chalamet is in A Complete Unknown, he cannot do it all by himself. That is where Monica Barbaro comes in as Joan Baez. She portrays Joan with such an infectious passion for music and has a tremendous singing voice. Barbaro and Chalamet capture the back and forth relationship of Baez and Dylan so well. The pair have a great deal of love and respect for each other, but Joan is one of the only people to call Bob out. Despite her frustrations, particularly with his lack of acknowledgement for her role in helping boost the popularity of his records, part of her still loves him. 

Nowhere is their dynamic more perfectly captured by Barbaro and Chalamet than during the recreations of the Newport Folk Festival where Dylan and Baez sing together. Both actors capture the pair’s frustration with each other and yet there is a lingering love there. Their eyes really tell the whole story on that stage, along with their smiles.

I mentioned him earlier, but before I get out of here, I want to talk about Boyd Holbrook as Johnny Cash. It is a small role in the grand scheme but when you talk about an actor commanding the screen, Holbrook does it as well as Chalamet. He has the swagger and voice of Cash completely down. Holbrook is so good that when he delivers some words of wisdom to Chalamet’s Dylan, I was ready to run through a brick wall myself. Having great performances, no matter the size of the role, can truly elevate a film.

Timothée Chalamet delivers one of the finest turns of his career in A Complete Unknown as Bob Dylan, even if the movie’s script from James Mangold and Jay Cocks is not all that different from any biopic you have seen before. A charismatic lead, solid supporting cast, and excellent music ultimately elevate this film into something worth seeing when you get the chance. If you are a die hard fan of Bob Dylan, you will enjoy this (despite probably not learning much) and I get the feeling this film could actually turn people into fans. 

A Complete Unknown will be released in US theaters on December 25, 2024 and in UK & Irish cinemas on January 17, 2025.