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Review: Bob Dylan biopic 㽶ƵֱA Complete Unknown㽶Ƶֱ electric in more ways than one

Film captures a fascinating moment in time when songs had weight and could move culture
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Timothee Chalamet poses for photographers upon arrival at the photo call for the film 㽶ƵֱA Complete Unknown㽶Ƶֱ, in London, on Monday, Dec. 16, 2024. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)

certainly lives up to its title. You are hardly closer to understanding the soul of after watching more than two hours of this moody look at America㽶Ƶֱs most enigmatic troubadour. But that㽶Ƶֱs not the point of biopic: It㽶Ƶֱs not who Dylan is but what he does to us.

Mangold 㽶Ƶֱ who directed and co-wrote the screenplay with Jay Cocks 㽶Ƶֱ doesn㽶Ƶֱt do a traditional cradle-to-the-near-grave treatment. He concentrates on the few crucial years between when Dylan arrived in New York in 1961 and when he blew the doors off the Newport Folk Festival in 1965 by adding a Fender Stratocaster.

That means we never learn anything about Dylan before he arrives in Manhattan㽶Ƶֱs Greenwich Village with a guitar, a wool-lined bomber jacket, a fisherman㽶Ƶֱs cap and ambition. And Dylan being Dylan, we just get scraps after that.

The world spins around him, Women fall in love with him, musicians seek his orbit, fans demand his autograph, record executives fight over his signature. The melds into the and the What does Dylan make of all this? The answer is blowing in the wind.

Any sane actor would run away from this assignment. Not , and 㽶ƵֱA Complete Unknown㽶Ƶֱ is his most ambitious work to date, asking him not only to play insecure-within-a-sneer but also to play and sing 40 songs in Dylan㽶Ƶֱs unmistakable growl, complete with blustery harmonica. Daniel Craig has been called brave for his role this awards season in Try playing 㽶ƵֱSubterranean Homesick Blues㽶Ƶֱ in front of a crowd.

The last big non-documentary attempt to understand Dylan was Todd Haynes㽶Ƶֱ which split the assignment among seven actors. Chalamet does it all, moving from callow, fresh-faced songsmith to arrogant, selfish New Yorker to jaded, staggering pop star to Angry Young Man. There are moments when Chalamet tilts his head down and looks at the world slyly, like Princess Diana. There are others when the resemblance is uncanny, but also moments when it is a tad forced. You cannot deny he㽶Ƶֱs got the essence of Dylan down, though.

The movie㽶Ƶֱs title is pulled from Dylan㽶Ƶֱs lyrics for 㽶ƵֱLike a Rolling Stone㽶Ƶֱ and it㽶Ƶֱs adapted from Elijah Wald㽶Ƶֱs book 㽶ƵֱDylan Goes Electric! Newport, Seeger, Dylan, and the Night That Split the Sixties.㽶Ƶֱ Dylan isn㽶Ƶֱt a producer but did consult on the script.

It㽶Ƶֱs not the most glowing profile, though the sheer brilliance of the songs 㽶Ƶֱ so many the movie might be deemed a musical 㽶Ƶֱ show Dylan㽶Ƶֱs undeniable genius. Chalamet㽶Ƶֱs Dylan is unfaithful, jealous and puckish. The movie suggests that adding electric guitar at Newport in 㽶Ƶֱ65 was less a brave stand for music㽶Ƶֱs evolution than a middle finger to anyone who dared put him in a box.

In some ways, 㽶ƵֱA Complete Unknown㽶Ƶֱ uses some of the DNA from 㽶ƵֱI㽶Ƶֱm Not There.㽶Ƶֱ The best clues to what㽶Ƶֱs going on behind Dylan㽶Ƶֱs shades are the refracted light from others, like Joan Baez, Johnny Cash, Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger and a girlfriend called Sylvie Russo, based on Dylan㽶Ƶֱs ex Suze Rotolo, who is pictured on 1963㽶Ƶֱs album cover for 㽶ƵֱThe Freewheelin㽶Ƶֱ Bob Dylan.㽶Ƶֱ

is a hangdog Seeger hoping to harness Dylan for the goodness of folk, astonished by his talent. Monica Barbaro is a revelation as Baez, Dylan㽶Ƶֱs on-again-off-again paramour. Boyd Holbrook is a sharklike, disrupting Cash, with the movie㽶Ƶֱs best line: 㽶ƵֱMake some noise, B.D. Track some mud on the carpet.㽶Ƶֱ And Elle Fanning is captivating as Russo, the sweetheart sucked into this crazy rock drama.

It㽶Ƶֱs Baez and Russo who dig the deepest into trying to find out who Dylan is. They don㽶Ƶֱt buy his stories about learning from the carnival and call him on his facade-building. 㽶ƵֱI don㽶Ƶֱt know you,㽶Ƶֱ Russo says, calling him a 㽶Ƶֱmysterious minstrel㽶Ƶֱ and urging him to 㽶ƵֱStop hiding.㽶Ƶֱ Too late, sister.

There are some lovely moments, especially the morning after Baez spends the night and she wakes to him working on 㽶ƵֱBlowin㽶Ƶֱ in the Wind.㽶Ƶֱ They spar a bit (he calls her songs 㽶Ƶֱoil paintings at a dentist office,㽶Ƶֱ and she calls him worse than a jerk) but they come together on the side of his bed in their underwear, he fumbling through what will be one of the greatest protest songs in history, and she supplying delicate harmony.

Mangold 㽶Ƶֱ who directed the Cash biopic 㽶ƵֱWalk the Line㽶Ƶֱ 㽶Ƶֱ is always good with music and clearly loves being in this world. There㽶Ƶֱs one scene that initially puzzles 㽶Ƶֱ Dylan stops on the street to buy a toy whistle 㽶Ƶֱ and you wonder why the director has wasted our time. Then we see Dylan pull it out at the top of the recording of 㽶ƵֱHighway 61 Revisited㽶Ƶֱ and suddenly it answers all those years of wondering what that crazy sound was.

There are points to quibble 㽶Ƶֱ Dylan never faced a shout of 㽶ƵֱJudas!㽶Ƶֱ from an enraged folkie at Newport; that came a year later in Manchester 㽶Ƶֱ but 㽶ƵֱA Complete Unknown㽶Ƶֱ is utterly fascinating, capturing a moment in time when songs had weight, when they could move the culture 㽶Ƶֱ even if the singer who made them was as puzzling as a rolling stone.

㽶ƵֱA Complete Unknown,㽶Ƶֱ a Searchlight Pictures release in theaters Friday, is rated R for 㽶Ƶֱlanguage.㽶Ƶֱ Running time: 141 minutes. Three and a half stars out of four.





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