“A Complete Unknown,” by director James Mangold, gives us the inside scoop of Bob Dylan’s career and everything in between. The title of this film, “A Complete Unknown,” stems from how little is known about Bob Dylan. Bob Dylan was, and still is, a very private man, thus making it hard to separate facts from false information about his life. This film highlights the first four crucial years of Bob Dylan’s 65 year long career.
The film shows how he was discovered in New York City and how he quickly immersed into the world of folk music. As the film progresses we get to see how his music changes through a four-year time period in the early 60s. We get small glimpses into his private relationships, and his spontaneous friendship with Johnny Cash. It is very interesting to follow these key pieces throughout the film and see how fame affects the 20-year-old singer/songwriter.
The actors/actresses were well chosen and bear good resemblance to who they were portraying. Timothee Chalamet starred as Bob Dylan, along with the supporting roles of Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez and Boyd Holbrook as Johnny Cash. Chalamet does an excellent job altering his voice to fit the midwestern twang and occasional mumbling of words of Bob Dylan. Mangold also made sure to capture how anti-social and uncommunicative Bob Dylan is by focusing on Chalamet’s mannerisms and demeanor throughout the entirety of the film.
The cinematography really gave the sense of living first hand in the 1960s. The physical representation of the film was phenomenal because they surprisingly captured New York perfectly considering they filmed majority of it in New Jersey. The budget for the film was $70 million, and they used it very wisely. They used beautiful old Cadillacs, typewriters and the Neumann M249C, the standard microphone of the time. The dim lighting stayed constant through all of the scenes, as well as all actors’ wardrobe being dull colored to keep the “old time” feel alive. Camera angles and scene transitions worked as a great addition to make each scene special in its own way.
Coming into this film, I was uneducated about Bob Dylan as a person and as a musician. Leaving the theater, I felt educated about historical events from the 1960s, and how it led to the folk music movement as well as how truly talented Bob Dylan is. He writes very sophisticated lyrics and can perfectly play any instrument given to him. After seeing the film, Bob Dylan is a new favorite. He is such a fascinating person and his albums have been on repeat ever since.
Figuring out a rating for “A Complete Unknown” should not be hard. It is well deserving of a five star review because of the well chosen actors/actresses, sets, wardrobe, hair/makeup team, and script development were all contributing factors to make this a five star, 100% rotten tomatoes film. This film brings so much awareness to the folk music genre as well as a visual insight into Bob Dylan who remains a confidential man.
