“A Complete Unknown,” welcomed an audience to the scrappy, rebellious world of one of the most iconic singer-songwriters of all time, Bob Dylan — played by Timothée Chalamet.
Bob’s rise to stardom is shown over the course of four tumultuous years in the early 60s. The film showcases the idols, friends and political movements of Bob’s life that allowed for his place in the pantheon of artists of the 20th century.
The film begins with a 20-year-old Bob arriving in New York City from his small hometown of Hibbing, Minnesota with a newspaper clipping noting that his idol, Woody Guthrie, has been hospitalized. He asks around in Greenwich Village for Woody, getting an introduction to the folk music scene of New York.
Eventually he finds him, incredibly sick and partially paralyzed, and plays both Woody and folk singer-songwriter Pete Seeger, “Song to Woody,” where he praises Woody in lines like, “I’m a-singin’ you this song, but I can’t sing enough // ‘Cause there’s not many men that done the things that you’ve done.” Pete takes a liking to Bob after this, allowing him to stay with his family and further connects him to the world of folk music.
Bob soon meets Sylvie Russo (Elle Fanning), his first serious girlfriend in New York. Sylvie is an activist who introduces Bob to the political movements of the era that he would go on to become known for documenting in his music, specifically in songs like, “The Times They Are A-Changin’.” Sylvie Russo is a pseudonym for Suze Rotolo, who is pictured walking arm-in-arm with Bob on the cover of his sophomore album, “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan.”
He also meets Joan Baez (Monica Barbaro) early at this same time; Joan has already achieved folk fame as Bob is rising. The two are linked romantically throughout these years, releasing their complicated feelings toward each other in their performances together.
The relationship between Bob, Sylvie and Joan is especially compelling, and the palpable chemistry between Chalamet and Barbaro on stage serves this theme well. At the Newport Folk Festival in 1964, they exchanged loaded glances between lyrics of, “It Ain’t Me, Babe.” They mostly miss each other, reflecting the disconnectedness of their relationship, but every so often catch each other’s gaze.
What Chalamet and this movie succeed best at is not making Bob overly and inaccurately likeable. Bob rudely compares Baez’s songwriting to, “an oil painting in a dentist’s office,” cheats on Sylvie while she’s out of town, and goes against everything Pete asks of him. At the same time, Chalamet masterfully portrays Bob’s awkward charm, the coolness and relatability that allowed him to become so successful.
The film culminates in the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, where Bob rebels against the folk sound expected of him by coming out with an electric guitar and full band to perform new rock songs such as, “Maggie’s Farm” and, “Like A Rolling Stone.” The crowd’s reaction is mixed; a minority are cheering and clapping, but Bob must play through the rest of the boos and dodge the items being thrown at him on stage.
The hopeful, upbeat sound of, “Like A Rolling Stone,” played between shouts of disapproval by a gleeful Bob powerfully exemplifies how Bob depended on being true to himself and authentic rather than playing by the rules of fame and conformity. “You won,” Joan says to Bob before he hops on his motorcycle to leave the Festival grounds. By disregarding people’s approval, Bob won freedom from the box people wanted to put him in.
As someone who is particularly sick of biopics and their frequency in recent movies, I was surprised to have thoroughly enjoyed, “A Complete Unknown.”
Chalamet’s performance moves seamlessly between Bob’s multitude of complicated characteristics, whether that be funny, yearnful, defiant, ill-mannered, or passionately creative. In an age where most things we see from celebrities sound like they’re following a script in order to give the most painless, socially-acceptable answer possible in order to avoid controversy, it’s refreshing to see a celebrity who truly did not care.
Bob’s story in “A Complete Unknown” is an ode to being aggressively authentic to oneself.
This story was written by Annie Goode. She can be reached at [email protected].
