Final post of 2024: A Complete Unknown


We went to see A Complete Unknown (aka, "that Bob Dylan movie") today and I liked it. Not quite a "love," but a definite "like." Timothee Chalamet captures the spirit and look of a young Bob Dylan about as well as could possibly be hoped for. The movie also has good performances from Monica Barbaro as a feisty, take-no-shit Joan Baez, Edward Norton as a fatherly, kind, patient, and philosophical Pete Seeger, Boyd Holbrook as a wild and crazy but totally badass Johnny Cash, and Scoot McNairy as a hospital-bound Woody Guthrie slowly dying of Huntington's.

If the dramatic scenes adhered a bit much to the typical biopic cliches, the musical scenes were excellent. Chalamet's guitar playing and singing were totally believable and demonstrated how committed to the role he was. Barbaro's singing voice sounded extremely close to the real Joan Baez, which could not have been an easy feat. I give her kudos for that.


Despite how I may have presented myself in some recent posts here, I am NOT a Dylanologist. I am far from an expert on his life and career. That said, I did notice some chronological errors here and there, but this is not a documentary, so I will cut the movie some slack. In a 2 hour, 15 minute dramatic rendering of a life, artistic license has to be made, and historical events have to be condensed and simplified. It's not that big a deal--we'll all be okay. If you insist on historical accuracy, watch the documentary No Direction Home.

My only minor quibble is that I wish the fictional version of folk singer Dave Van Ronk had been fleshed out more. My understanding is that Dylan crashed in Van Ronk's apartment when Bob first arrived in New York and had quite a musical education listening to Van Ronk's record collection. A few scenes of that would have been fun.

But overall, it's a fun movie and it gets a thumbs up from me.

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