A Complete Unknown (2025)

There's a scene in the second half of James Mangold's Dylan biopic in which Timothée Chalamet's music icon refuses to partake in a duet of Blowin' in the Wind with Monica Barbaro's Joan Baez, whilst live on stage in front of hundreds of adoring fans. It's well documented that Dylan eventually went against the country grain of course- a move discussed by Elijah Wald in his book 'Dylan Goes Electric' (on which this film is based) and this controversy is what makes up the bulk of A Complete Unknown's second half.

For someone who's not particularly au fait with the genre, Dylan's decisions in wanting to branch out and expand his sound seem perfectly reasonable- and his irritation at the hundreds of people turning up to his gigs simply to hear 'Blowin' in the Wind' and not much else is understandable. It's a bugbear especially fitting in 2025, as Britpop giants Oasis prepare for a monolithic reunion tour; mainly made up of 'fans' wanting to have their picture taken at the event for social reasons, and maybe to sing along to the few lines they know of 'Wonderwall', 'Don't Look Back in Anger' or, at a stretch, 'Little by Little'.

A Complete Unknown straddles the fence somewhat in offering a direct opinion on Dylan's musical decisions or indeed his attitude. I've read reviews that disagree with this and glean that it's a solid portrayal of Dylan's descent into being an 'arsehole' once he reached such heights of fame, but Timothée Chalamet's brilliant take on the icon, in my opinion, makes it hard to opine whether the fame gets to his head completely or whether he simply becomes more opinionated within the art form. Dylan fans will be able to acquire a more well read viewpoint than I on this matter, but Mangold's film does achieve what any decent biopic should- draw in both the fan and the uninitiated, and keeps you engaged for it's north of two hour run time.

Focusing on the years between 1961 and 1965, the film is split into distinct parts, anchored by each of those year's Newport Folk Festivals, culminating in Dylan's infamous 1965 performance where he chose to use electrical instruments to the chagrin of both organisers and fans alike. Dylan's music is untouchable, and Mangold spends a huge portion of the film delighting us with Chalamet brilliantly performing his hits; in other hands spending this amount of screen time with the music itself might have detracted from the overall output.

It's actually elsewhere that A Complete Unknown's faults lie. Although Ed Norton is on terrific form as Dylan's mentor Pete Seeger, he's the only other character who gets a fully fleshed out story, whereas Barbaro's Baez, although clearly an important presence for this portion of Dylan's life, finds herself on the peripheral- only on screen when it suits the narrative drive. Although this is certainly Dylan's tale and this is probably the reason for her little screen time, it feels like we don't fully understand the relationship between the two, meaning that altercations later in the film feel a little inert and don't quite work. The same can be said for Seeger's wife Toshi, who the camera lingers on several times during important moments, leading us to think she has some part to play as the film develops- only to reveal that these shots are bafflingly pointless.

The presence of Johnny Cash (Boyd Holbrook) feels perfunctory, even if it's true to the story, and Holbrook does his best with the material- but if you want to see Cash displayed on screen in more urgent fashion, go and watch Walk The Line (2005). Elle Fanning as Dylan's long term love interest Sylvie Russo is fine, but again her character feels under developed; a muse for Dylan's rise to fame with vague attempts later in the film to impress upon us how important she actually was to him.

But as I stipulated earlier, Mangold's decision to focus on a four year period during Dylan's rise to fame- and most importantly the music itself, means that A Complete Unknown works rather well overall, and it certainly helps that the music itself is so timeless. The performances (even the rather slender ones) are very good, and Chalamet's Dylan is a revelation for an actor who although beloved by millions, hasn't fully captured my personal adoring until perhaps now. He's absolutely terrific, and even if the film is far from a masterpiece, it's an engaging and well made biopic whose central character is enough of an enigma to draw people in- and then keep them entertained for over two hours. 7.4/10