Timothée Chalamet convincingly portrays storied musician and songwriter Bob Dylan in “A Complete Unknown” (Searchlight), a well-crafted recreation of the early years of the iconic performer’s career. Both mature subject matter and salty vocabulary, however, mark the film as suitable for older moviegoers only.
The action opens with Dylan’s epochal 1961 visit to the sickbed of his idol, folk singer Woody Guthrie (Scoot McNairy), who was chronically ill with Huntington’s disease. In an important plot development that may or may not be true to history, this is shown to be the occasion of Dylan’s first meeting with his future mentor, Pete Seeger (Edward Norton), as well.
With the already-established Seeger’s guidance, Dylan breaks into the Greenwich Village music scene. As his popularity swells, he also launches a live-in romance with fellow vocalist Sylvie Russo (Elle Fanning) – a stand-in for Dylan’s real-life muse, Suze Rotolo.
But such domestic tranquility as Dylan and Russo enjoy is soon threatened by the rising star’s love-hate relationship with his initially more famous colleague Joan Baez (Monica Barbaro). Some of the picture’s most moving moments, in fact, involve Russo’s silent, savvy and emotionally complex reactions to the hidden connection these two apparent rivals share.
On the professional front, meanwhile, Dylan’s determination to avoid being pigeonholed gains the support of his rebellious friend and admirer Johnny Cash (Boyd Holbrook). Yet this same independent thinking eventually raises the ire of genre purists, setting up a conflict that reaches its historic climax at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival when Dylan – famously – goes electric.
Director and co-writer James Mangold wisely concentrates on his subject’s perfect-for-the-period music and effectively depicts Dylan’s contrarian personality. But the realistic dialogue the helmer penned with Jay Cocks is too verbally freewheelin’ to make this profile an acceptable introduction for young people.
The film contains cohabitation, brief slightly irreverent humor, several uses of profanity, a few milder oaths, numerous rough and crude expressions and an obscene gesture. The OSV News classification is A-III – adults. The Motion Picture Association rating is R – restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.
