A Complete Unknown – Dir: James Mangold (13th Floor Film Review)

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It’s finally here! James Mangold’s highly-anticipated Bob Dylan biopic opens in New Zealand cinemas today. So, was it worth the wait? In a word…yes.

Starring: Timothée Chalamet, Elle Fanning, Monica Barbaro, Edward Norton

First a little perspective…I’m a dyed-in-the wool Dylan fan from way back…I have all the records and I’ve read most of the books, so I may not be the ideal audience for this film as fans like me have a tendency to focus on the details rather than the overall picture.

A Complete Unknown follows young Robert Zimmerman from his arrival in New York in 1961 until he “went electric” at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival. Those four years are already full of enough stories…or myths…to make up at least five films.

To his credit, Mangold manages to get most everything in without feeling rushed or glossed over.

He does this because he and co-screenwriter Jay Cocks seem to realize that although Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and Pete Seeger are all riveting characters…the most important “characters” in this story are the songs.

Songs like Blowin’ In The Wind, Mr. Tambourine Man, Masters Of War and Maggie’s Farm seem to come oozing out of Dylan at all hours of the day and night…its all he can do to write them down and strum a melody on his guitar.

Friends like Baez, manager Albert Grossman, girlfriend Sylvie (Suzie Rotolo) can only watch in wonder, which is what Dylan himself seems to do.

Meanwhile, Bob Dylan the young man is anything but perfect…he lies, cheats, manipulates everyone around him because he knows he has this gift that allows him to get away with almost any bad behaviour. Eventually it seems like Dylan doesn’t even like Dylan.

But Mangold does capture the magic. The film is at its best when Dylan is allowed to do what he does best…sing his own songs.

Scenes like the one where Dylan plays Song To Woody to his hero Woody Guthrie who is in a hospital in New Jersey are absolutely spellbinding.

The fact that actor Timothée Chalamet is doing his own singing and playing takes it to another dimension. The same happens when Bob and Joan duet on stage after a particularly nasty argument…the tension, the passion, the talent…is all on display in full glory.

And Mangold allows the songs to breathe…we don’t get snippets, we get the whole thing because no matter how great the cast is, the real stars of this show are the songs.

A Complete Unknown may very well be the best non-documentary music film I’ve ever seen…and I’ve seen a lot.

Marty Duda

A Complete Unknown opens in New Zealand cinemas today. Click here for tickets and showtimes. 

 

Marty Duda
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