A Complete Unknown

Even if you've heard the songs ten-thousand times, one of the many remarkable things about "A Complete Unknown" is remembering - or reliving - the sensation of hearing them for the first time.

People who tear up just watching the trailer for this Bob Dylan biopic will know what I'm talking about.

People who don't - including a couple of generations who weren't around yet - have a lot to learn from writer-director James Mangold's magnificent retelling of Dylan's early years. They span his 1961 arrival in Greenwich Village and pilgrimage to the bedside of dying Woody Guthrie, to the Newport Folk Festival where he upended the folk music world he had championed by going electric in 1965.

The movie features incredible Golden Globe-nominated performances - more like feats of channeling - by Timothée Chalamet as Dylan and Edward Norton as Pete Seeger, along with Monica Barbaro doing a wonderful Joan Baez and Elle Fanning as long-suffering girlfriend Sylvia Russo.

But the film's real "star" is the music, rather than the prickly personality of this honky tonk American demigod destined to win a Nobel Prize in Literature in 2016, and to still be performing on his endless tour well into his 80s.

With all the stars doing their own singing, "A Complete Unknown" is a chills-up-the-spine musical treasure chest, overflowing with dozens of the greatest songs ever written. Viewers of my generation will thrill witnessing the moment of creation of songs that changed history, over and over. Not only are the songs born anew, but still images - album cover photos in particular, stared at for years - come to life before our eyes.

Backgrounds, too - Greenwich Village, Manhattan apartments, recording studios and penthouses; outdoor folk festivals from Newport to Monterey - shine, seemingly in the light generated by the idealism of that brief American moment. Filmmaker Mangold's beautiful film pulses with energy amid all the impeccably observed period details.

Burning with ambition when he arrived in New York, 19-year-old Bobby Dylan had a new name and fanciful stories of traveling with carney shows instead of true accounts of his upbringing as Robert Zimmerman in Hibbing, Minnesota. A slave of his music, he was hardly ready when the fame he had sought descended on him overnight.

His genius and intuition were once-in-a-generation gifts. His psyche and temperament were made of flimsier stuff ... even though he was almost as good at wisecracking as he was at writing songs.

"You know, you're kind of an asshole," Joan Baez tells him shortly after they get together.

That doesn't stop them from making beautiful music together, amidst all the other exhilarating performances on screen.

The tension between Dylan's almighty gift and his his very human difficulties handling it make "A Complete Unknown" unlike other music biopics. Fans know lots of the details already. Every time Bob climbs on his Triumph, we know where he's heading.

Time has always been Dylan's "thing." He's a physicist as much as a poet in understanding the nature of change. The songs he wrote in the film's time frame were astounding for summing up everything, from romantic love to geopolitics, in words everyone knew were true the first time we heard them. It was Dylan, rather than our teachers in school, who educated us.

Sixty years later, at the other end of the timeline, his lyrics are just as just as immediate, just as profound, just as funny.

Bob Dylan was, and is, the voice of our culture in our time.

There's no way this movie can't be an homage and tribute, but it doesn't glorify.

Instead, it's more honest ... more interesting ... more ambiguous ... For all the books, PhD dissertations and decades of efforts to know the man behind the voice, Bob Dylan remains as elusive and enigmatic as ever. There's no "answer" to what, or who, he is.

He just is.

"A Complete Unknown" is just a new way of connecting some of the dots, resulting in a wonderfully alive film experience, a musical thrill show, a return to our youth.

When it opens in theaters Christmas Day, I imagine I won't have been the only one sitting through the final credits just to hear the songs one more time.

I loved A Complete Unknown. To me, it is a story of lost innocence-a modern fall from Eden. Dylan's relentless chase for what he thinks will make him happy only highlights his longing for what he has already lost. The problem is, he doesn't know who he is. His evolving relationships mirror the changes in his music, and by the end, he seems to realize that whatever he's become, he regrets some of his choices because there's no going back.

And the soundtrack? Absolutely killer-every track perfectly captures Dylan's transformation and inner conflict, making the film an unforgettable theater experience.

I do like a music based film, and I'm old enough to know and like Bob. I think Timothy is good, but previously so young looking I struggled with some of his roles. Here he grows up. Bob Dylan is a great part for him, and he plays him well, maturing physically and as an actor.

The film seemed a little "clean" and in the midst of the mid 60's onward, drugs seem to be limited to cigarettes! Even Bob himself has talked about drugs issues related to opioids and psychedelics, so it did seem an important admission, maybe related to Bob still being with us.

However still an entertaining biopic with great music which was the focus (as it should bet) for the Nobel prize winning icon.

Driving home from the cinema happily singing along to Bob which clearly had the desired effect. 7/10.

I went to the cinema today to watch this film because I'm a fan of Bob Dylan's work. The film exceeded my expectations in the best way possible. Initially, I thought it would be a 6 out of 10 at best, but I realized it surpasses other movies about musical icons like Freddie Mercury, Elton John, or Ray Charles.

The movie is over two hours long, but I didn't even notice how the time flew by. It felt like I was witnessing a part of someone's remarkable and incredible life on screen, and I didn't want it to end. The performances by the cast were absolutely brilliant-beyond praise. Edward Norton surprised me for the first time in a long while, as did Elle Fanning. Timothée Chalamet portrayed Bob Dylan in an incredibly captivating way. What impressed me the most was that he sang continuously without any noticeable flaws. The way he performed was so convincing that, for me, even Rami Malek didn't portray Freddie Mercury as well as Chalamet portrayed Dylan.

The cinematography was solid, though there's not much more to say about it. The plot was engaging and atmospheric, capturing the emotions of the era and the characters' experiences, how they changed, and what influenced them. The music, of course, was magnificent-it's Bob Dylan, after all. Timothée Chalamet's efforts to speak and sing like Dylan were astonishing.

I haven't seen a great film in a year, not since the release of Dune: Part Two, where Chalamet also played the lead. What an amazing coincidence. I hope Timothée becomes one of the greatest actors of the new generation, avoiding the trap of becoming a "plastic" performer. Instead, I hope he continues to improvise and strive for excellence in his roles. Good actors are becoming rare, just like good films.

I'm giving my rating right after watching it, though I might adjust it later when my emotions settle. I definitely plan to rewatch the movie to notice things I may have missed the first time. This is undoubtedly one of the best films of the year. I'm so glad I saw it in theaters and highly recommend it to everyone. 9/10.

A Complete Unknown is a prelude into Bob Dylan's (Timothée Chalamet) career and it begins when Dylan arrives in New York City to visit his folk music hero Woody Guthrie (Scoot McNairy), an American singer-songwriter and composer, who is hospitalized at Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital due to a neurodegenerative disease that left him mobility impaired. Woody is notably known for the song This Land Is Your Land, which we see Pete Seeger (Edward Norton) playing this song during his court trial - for contempt of Congress, which was overturned on a technicality. The song has some deep fascinating history, and Norton did it some justice with his remarkable singing. Later in the movie, Norton sings The Lion Sleeps Tonight while playing the banjo, which was pure enjoyment.

The film also depicts how Pete Seeger is captivated by Bob Dylan's talent and his easygoing personality that he decides to promote his music career. Like your typical musician, Dylan finds himself caught in a love triangle with Sylvie Russo (Elle Fanning) - the one that encourages his song writing and supports him financially, and Joan Baez (Monica Barbaro) - the one that introduces Dylan to her audience and boosts his music career. Monica Barbaro's singing was beyond impressive and heavenly. She hit those high notes so delicately and precise.

Huge praise to Director and Writer James Mangold in successfully illustrating Bob Dylan's journey in becoming one of the greatest songwriters of all time. James Mangold, known for Walk the Line, included Johnny Cash (Boyd Holbrook) as Dylan's motivation for not becoming a novelty act and encouraged him to make a statement and bring out his rebel side regarding change - Civil Rights Movements, which can be heard throughout the lyrics in the songs, The Times They Are a-Changin' and Like a Rolling Stone - where he performed it at the Newport Folk Festival with an electric musical instruments, and history was made.

Timothée Chalamet certainly had some big shoes to fill taking on the challenge of portraying the young enigmatic Bob Dylan. Chalamet truly stuns the audience radiating that Bob Dylan 60s folk rock vibe with the symbolic harmonica and those fashion iconic sunglasses. A Complete Unknown will leave you wanting an encore.