Timothee Chalamet in A Complete Unknown

Walk Hard lampooned music biopics so thoroughly we should probably abandon the whole genre for a while, and yet, Hollywood persists in cranking out music biopics, the cinematic equivalent of a jukebox musical. 

A Complete Unknown is the latest, directed by James Mangold (who also directed Walk the Line, one of the primary targets of Walk Hard), and co-written by Mangold and Jay Cocks. The film is an adaptation of Elijah Wald’s book, Dylan Goes Electric!, which chronicles the crucial moment in the mid-1960s when Bob Dylan, up to that point known as an acoustic folk artist, switched to amplified music, aligning with the rising popularity of newfangled rock’n’roll. A Complete Unknown is a cut above the typical music biopic, though, driven in part by a superb ensemble cast and the film’s simple acceptance that Bob Dylan is kind of a dick.

The film opens in 1961, as Bob, played with a solipsistic slipperiness by Timothee Chalamet, hitchhikes his way to Greenwich Village, seeking the godfather of American folk music, Woody Guthrie. He finds Woody hospitalized in New Jersey, though, ravaged by Huntington’s disease. Scoot McNairy gives a brief but brutal and nearly wordless performance as Woody, a man trapped in his body but still present enough to recognize genius as Bob plays him a song. With Woody is Pete Seeger (Ed Norton), the reigning figurehead and standard-bearer of folk music. Armed with his banjo and a friendly smile, Pete welcomes Bob into the New York folk scene. Like Woody, he immediately recognizes Bob’s talent.

Bob spends his early years in New York negging Joan Baez (a steely Monica Barbaro) to get her attention and wooing student and budding artist Sylvie Russo (Elle Fanning). The film is leaps and bounds more interesting when Bob is dealing with the women in his life, mainly because these moments paint him as an utter sh-thead. Joan is an established star in the folk scene, whose tremulous voice belies her ambition and canniness. She sees right through Bob, and Barbaro is outstanding as Joan, giving no quarter even as Bob’s star rises alongside hers. Fanning is equally good as the supportive Sylvie, who tries her best to put up with Bob’s bullsh-t but ultimately can’t. She gets the big weepy speech, which Fanning makes a meal of. A Complete Unknown is not afraid to show Bob Dylan in an unflattering light. He’s hell on everyone around him, including Pete Seeger, who sours as Bob turns from folk’s new hero to rock’s latest star. 

The film traces Bob’s trajectory through the early Sixties, which involves a relatively rapid rise to the top of the folk scene. But Bob is restless, and Mangold utilizes the cacophonous streets of New York to show how Bob absorbs everything around him, from Cold War panic to ethnic music to children’s toys to constantly push his songwriting and music forward. Dylan historians can nitpick the film’s accuracy, but for the casual fan or the entirely uninitiated, it’s best as a case study for Bob Dylan being the most consequential lyricist of the 20th century. The soundtrack is packed with bangers, and Bob is always cranking out new songs, regardless of time or place or whether or not he’s bothering someone else. He’s incredibly rude, an asshole, even, but his music is…well, it’s Bob Dylan’s music. It’s hard to argue with the means when the ends are songs like “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “Masters of War”. 

The film doesn’t hesitate to paint Bob in a bad light, though, and Chalamet’s performance is perfectly calibrated to a particular asshole frequency that is especially infuriating because sometimes, Bob’s alright, but most of the time, he deserves to be dunked in a river for how he treats people. It’s a rare music biopic that doesn’t whitewash its subject’s reputation, but Bob Dylan’s reputation for being kind of a dick remains intact. What Unknown does, though, is make the case that, ultimately, the result of Bob’s contrariness and sh-tty behavior is some of the best American music ever made, so…I guess it’s fine? 

This is a lightweight film when it comes to it, it’s a good portrait of a young Bob Dylan but little else. It does not interrogate Bob’s legacy so much as justify it, which is its most typical music biopic characteristic. That the film embraces Bob’s less savory traits is its saving grace, lending the film a spice most music biopics lack. Bob Dylan has always been a mercurial, challenging artist, and while A Complete Unknown itself is not a challenging film, that it does not shy away from Bob’s unlikeable, even detestable, antics gives the film a sheen of complexity. 

Bob Dylan has never feared disapprobation, and A Complete Unknown honors him by letting its audience dislike him, too.

A Complete Unknown will play exclusively in theaters from December 25, 2024.