It took almost five years to make, but James Mangold, director of A Complete Unknown, persisted through the Pandemic and other delays to produce one of the finest movies of the year. Timothée Chalamet convinced me that he could play Bob Dylan (aka, Bob Zimmerman), a talented unknown from Hibbing, Minnesota who arrives in New York City to make a name for himself. Timothée Chalamet did 35 songs live on camera, including guitar and harmonica work. A recent BBC review called Chalamet “completely believable, better than the film itself.”
Mangold’s expansive Johnny Cash biopic, the 2005 film “Walk the Line,” focused on a much longer storyline. “A Complete Unknown,” based on Elijah Wald’s Dylan Goes Electric!: Newport, Seeger, Dylan, and the Night That Split the Sixties (2015), focuses on four critical years in Bob Dylan’s life. The story starts with a 20-year-old Dylan’s arrival in New York City and ends with the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, where Dylan shocked the crowd with electric instruments and blew up his image as a folk singer.
Edward Norton is excellent as the intense folk singer, Pete Seeger. Both of the women who played Dylan’s girl friends, Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez and Elle Fanning as Sylvie Russo, show more compassion for Dylan than Dylan showed them.
Are you a Bob Dylan fan? GRADE: A
SONG LIST:
- Highway 61 Revisited: Performed by Timothée Chalamet
- Mr. Tambourine Man: Performed by Timothée Chalamet
- I Was Young When I Left Home: Performed by Timothée Chalamet
- Girl From The North Country: Performed by Timothée Chalamet and Monica Barbaro
- Silver Dagger: Performed by Monica Barbaro
- A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall: Performed by Timothée Chalamet
- Wimoweh (Mbube): Performed by Edward Norton
- House of the Rising Sun: Performed by Monica Barbaro
- Folsom Prison Blues: Performed by Boyd Holbrook
- Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right: Performed by Timothée Chalamet and Monica Barbaro
- Masters of War: Performed by Timothée Chalamet
- Blowin’ in the Wind: Performed by Timothée Chalamet and Monica Barbaro
- Subterranean Homesick Blues: Performed by Timothée Chalamet
- Big River: Performed by Boyd Holbrook
- The Times They Are A-Changin’: Performed by Timothée Chalamet
- When the Ship Comes In: Performed by Timothée Chalamet and Edward Norton
I’m a huge fan of Dylan (he’s my secret husband, number—oh, I don’t remember, lol), but he’s never been known for his kindness or relatability. And frankly, Tim above looks as much like Dylan as I do—which is to say, not much. I might catch this on a streaming service, but meanwhile, I’ll be over here listening for the umpteenth time to “Nashville Skyline”.
Deb, Diane agrees with you. She thinks Timothée Chalamet is better looking than Dylan at that age. Most of the songs included in A COMPLETE UNKNOWN come from THE FREEWHEELIN’ BOB DYLAN, THE TIMES THEY ARE A CHANGIN’, ANOTHER SIDE OF BOB DYLAN, BRINGING IT ALL BACK HOME, and HIGHWAY 61 REVISITED. NASHVILLE SKYLINE was four years in the future.
To a certain extent, but never worship. Had a lot of good people around him.
Todd, HIGHWAY 61 REVISITED is still one of my favorite albums along with BLONDE ON BLONDE. I’m less enthusiastic about Bob Dylan’s music in the Seventies and I stopped buying his albums in the Eighties. But you have to respect Dylan’s Nobel Prize.
I do like BRINGING IT ALL BACK HOME a lot, too. And the songs he wrote or tweaked, as covered by others, are some of the best recordings of the ’60s, to be sure. I’m a huge fan of the Byrds, Fairport Convention, the Band and others pretty damned relevant to Dylan. Heard Joan Baez’s parody of Zims’s singing style from the filmed concerts FESTIVAL the other day.
Todd, BRINGING IT ALL BACK HOME gave the folk music world a glimpse of where Dylan was going…and it was not folky.
Actually, George, I don’t think I do have to. I think he was more influential than many other winners, but was his work as good, as poetry or text?
Todd, the Nobel Prize committee awarded Bob Dylan the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2016 for his poetic contributions to American song.
I’d say there have been others as deserving. Or more.
Yes, I’m a fan, especially of the music from that stage of his career. THE FREEWHEELIN’ and BRINGING IT ALL BACK HOME were the first Dylan albums I bought.
One problem – Jackie dislikes him and doesn’t like his music (at least when he is singing it).
The last time we saw him was July of 1999 in a weird double concert with Paul Simon. Neither was in great voice even then. They did a few weird duets, including “The Sounds of Silence,” but Bob’s set was stronger, despite the somewhat weird renditions he did:
Oh Babe, It Ain’t No Lie
Mr. Tambourine Man
Desolation Row
Girl From the North Country
Tangled Up in Blue
All Along the Watchtower
Shelter From the Storm
Maggie’s Farm
Not Dark Yet
Highway 61 Revisited
Like a Rolling Stone
It Ain’t Me, Babe
Not Fade Away
Did I mention that Jackie HATED the entire concert?
Paul Simon setlist (the last 3 with Dylan):
Bridge Over Troubled Water
Can’t Run But
The Boy in the Bubble
The Coast
Trailways Bus
Mrs. Robinson
Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard
Further to Fly
Graceland
The Cool, Cool River
Slip Slidin’ Away
Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes
You Can Call Me Al
Late in the Evening
Still Crazy After All These Years
The Sound of Silence
I Walk the Line / The Wanderer
Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door
Also, not Dylan-related, by two years later we saw a similar setup at Jones Beach: Brian Wilson & Paul Simon. I can’t remember the duets they did, though.
Jeff, aging singers still persist in singing even though their voices are shot.
Jeff, there are a lot of great songs on that list. But, Jackie’s right that Dylan’s voice (and Paul Simon’s voice) declined by 1999. Katie loves Dylan songs–as long as someone else sings them!
He only looks better, I think he sings better. Really enjoyed it.
Patti, Timothée Chalamet not only looks better than Dylan, he sounds better than Dylan. I’m impressed he learned 35 songs for A COMPLETE UNKNOWN and played them flawlessly!
Of course I’ve been a fan from the moment I heard Blowin’ in the Wind!
And it was really successful in Germany, was sung in a translation even
by famous Marlene Dietrich!
I’ve often watched his performances on the Newport Folk Festival.
And it was a really unforgettable moment when I watched Johnny Winter perform this song after having been carried on a seat onto the stage – in a small theater in my hometown, early 2013.
A few weeks later I read that Winter had died on this European tour in Switzerland.
Totally forgot:
Bob did an open air concert in my hometown Tübingen in 2015, but I had to be in Hungary at that date.
When I came back my friends told me they were very disapointed – the playing and singing was marvelous – but all during the concert there was heavy rain.
Most people hadn’t expected that so weren’t well clothed for this and those few who brought umbrella (and were allowed to use them ,,,) made it difficult or impossible for the others to watch …
For those who can red German:
https://www.stuttgarter-nachrichten.de/inhalt.bob-dylan-in-tuebingen-der-mann-der-immer-schon-da-war.
Wolf, I rarely attend outside concerts any more.
Wolf, I remember the day I heard Johnny Winter died, too.