With the adage of separating the art from the artist in mind, viewing A Complete Unknown is quite the experience. Timothée Chalamet is outstanding as Bob Dylan, a man known for being prickly and aloof and he certainly brings those traits out in full but he also infuses the character with a dedication to his musical muse.
Reducing a long professional life down into a much heralded and singular event also pays dividends as it helps the film keep focus. The event in question was Dylan’s performance at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival when he outraged the crowd by delivering an electric and rock-oriented set to the folkies. Little did the crowd on that night know what a pivotal event that would become in musical history.
Chalamet’s take on Dylan challenges you to even like the man, as his sullen nature and mistreatment of the women in his life are amply illustrated. His passion for expressing himself through lyrics and music is however the driving force of his life and it is presented in such a way as to illustrate that little else matters to him. In the modern day, this ethos seems cliche but at the dawn of rock music’s rise in popularity, it is revelatory.
The living and breathing version of Bob Dylan remains a contradiction. The legends of his life’s activities have added up to quit the tome and this celluloid take on an important moment of that life will only add to the depth of the story. He was important then and remains a seminal figure to this day. Now if we could just get him to take a few singing lessons.
Rob Hudson
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