"A Complete Unknown"
Directed by James Mangold
Starring Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan
The story of Bob Dylan's rise to fame is well known. I have been well aware of the broad details of it for fifty years. How - as a nineteen year old he left his home state of Minnesota and travelled to New York City. How - soon after his arrival - he went to visit Woody Guthrie - one of his musical heroes - in a New York state hospital. How - by good fortune as much as talent - he found a way into the New York folk music scene and earned a recording contract.
This is pretty much the course that the bio-pic film "A Complete Unknown" covers - with the title being filtered from one of Dylan's most timeless numbers - "Like a Rolling Stone":-
How does it feel, how does it feel?
To be without a home
Like a complete unknown, like a rolling stone
And of course when he arrived in New York, he was indeed "a complete unknown".
To this day, Bob Dylan remains a rather mysterious, enigmatic figure who has never enjoyed playing by other people's rules. I think that the actor, Timothée Chalamet captures some of that unknowable, rebellious quality very well.
In the middle of the film, there's an exchange between Dylan and his girlfriend Sylvie Russo (Suze Rottolo) in which she says that she has told him everything about herself but “I realise I don’t know you.” And I must say that I have always found it interesting that in the hundreds of songs that Dylan has written, he has never harked back to his early life in Minnesota. It is as if all of that was deliberately blanked out.
I didn't know how I would feel about "A Complete Unknown" when I marched to our city centre this morning. I was prepared to be underwhelmed.
However, I was pleasantly surprised. There were moments when tears ran down my cheeks and there were several belly laughs too. I was engaged throughout even though there were one or two scenes that I would have constructed differently for the sake of believeability.
The songs themselves, all sung by Timothée Chalamet, were nicely bedded within the storyline - not overbalancing it. And it was interesting to be given a renewed sense of New York life in the sixties. Nobody is glued to a smartphone . There are no computers and a lot of people, Dylan included, constantly smoke cigarettes.
The man is a legend in our time and Mangold's film helps to confirm that. I suspect that if you like Dylan you will enjoy this film.
Many artists have unconvental ways of knocking down the door to find success.
ReplyDeleteDylan had a lot of self-belief but it was justifiable.
DeleteBiopics can be a great way to get "closer" to someone we admire for their talent or maybe just for being who they are or were.
ReplyDeleteThe actors' names are not familiar, which can be a good thing - often, when I watch a British series or film, I know many or all of the actors and even remember which episode of "Midsomer Murders" they were in, for example. It can be fun but can also take away from the actual film, so unknown faces are welcome.
Some biopics are embarrassing but not the case with "A Complete Unknown". The challenge was addressed with the acquired expertise of skilful film makers.
DeleteI shall wait until it's 'widely available' . . . It sounds interesting and reasonably faithful.
ReplyDeleteYes - faithful to the story.
DeleteI look forward to seeing this one when it hits a streaming service.
ReplyDeleteThat does not seem to take too long these days.
DeleteI'm glad you enjoyed the movie. Perhaps I'll get up my nerve and go see some movies by myself.
ReplyDeleteWhy not? I have done it many times. All you are doing is sitting in the dark watching a screen.
DeleteHis voice and performance style never felt comfortable to me.
ReplyDeleteThe songs and the lyrics always meant that I could forgive his occasional "in concert" failings.
DeleteI'll watch that movie if it comes to my Netflix. Sounds good.
ReplyDeleteOne of America's greatest sons. I wish he was from Yorkshire.
Delete"Blowin In The Wind" would have been a better film title. I watched the trailer. My kind of film.
ReplyDelete"Blowin' in the Wind" features in the film but I think "A Complete Unknown" was the right title.
DeleteI hope it eventually turns up on Netflix or some TV channel I have access to. Is it based on his own Chronicles? I have Volume 1 in Swedish translation - and am a bit shocked to realize now that it was published 20 years ago but still no Volume 2 seems to have followed...
ReplyDeleteIt was based on what really happened and greatly helped by this 2015 book - "Dylan Goes Electric!" by Elijah Wald.
DeleteI saw it and loved it. Agree with you absolutely.
ReplyDeleteI hoped that you would see it and I am glad that you had positive feelings about it too.
DeleteI'll see it when it comes on Netflix.
ReplyDeleteI'll wait until it makes it to TV, then I can change the channel if I don't like it. I'm not a Bob Dylan fan.
ReplyDeleteI think I would like it. A film based on a true story is usually pretty good. Elle Fanning, the actress who plays his girlfriend is from my hometown of Conyers, Georgia! She was in a movie about Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein. I really liked that one.
ReplyDeleteI think I would like it. A film based on a true story is usually pretty good. Elle Fanning, the actress who plays his girlfriend is from my hometown of Conyers, Georgia! She was in a movie about Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein. I really liked that one.
ReplyDelete