
The biopic genre claims another victim.
The legacy of Bob Dylan has been told to audiences countless times over the star’s 60+ years in music. From Martin Scorsese’s documentary No Direction Home (2005) to Todd Haynes’ elaborate I’m Not There (2006), which saw six different actors portraying numerous moments of Dylan’s life and career, it remains impossible to accurately convey the magnitude of such a sprawling career to new generations.
Amidst the renaissance of mainstream Hollywood biopics that have spawned following the commercial success of (historically inaccurate) Bohemian Rhapsody (2018), it’s no surprise that Dylan’s story should follow suit. At the helm is James Mangold, a director not unfamiliar with the biopic genre given his acclaimed Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line (2006), A Complete Unknown stars Hollywood heartthrob Timothée Chalamet (who by all accounts seems a perfect casting) and follows the first five years of Dylan’s career, recounting his shift from acoustic folk to electric at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, amidst his ever-evolving public image.
Lost in translation?
As someone fascinated by Dylan’s music from this period, I was intrigued to see how the events of his life and musicianship would be portrayed. While it seems we got an indisputable amount of when and how, the whats and whys seem to have gotten lost in translation. Through all intents and purposes, the film’s narrative suggests Dylan’s music was incredible simply because everybody at the time thought so, rather than highlighting the true impact of his lyrics.
Whilst folk talent Pete Seeger (portrayed by Ed Norton) is there to remind you that Dylan’s folk music originally had poetic and oblique political lyricism tied to the civil rights movement, the narrative ultimately implies that Dylan used the movement as a means of gaining notoriety from record labels to obtain commercial viability. The transition of Dylan’s shift in focus from acoustic to electric is depicted well, despite some inaccuracies and a continued hesitation to dig into the meanings and intentions of his words. Ironically, with the film taking its title from the song ‘Like a Rolling Stone’, audiences unfamiliar still wouldn’t gauge its importance or significance by the end.
Music that rings hollow
Through the biopic’s lens, Dylan’s music exists only through covers performed by the cast. These are done well, resembling even that of the original, but ring hollow in a film that seems uninterested in conveying what makes the music so pivotal in the first place. By design, the musical biopic genre isn’t interested in asking why something is significant as much as saying that it simply was and then moving on. This spiritless convention plagues A Complete Unknown. The film’s endless reaction shots of stunned looks and admiring smiles from supporting characters lose all dramatic weight from their lack of inquiry into the music’s purpose. It suggests that Mangold isn’t willing or interested in digging beneath the surface nor engaging with what makes Dylan such a beloved artist.
Additionally, the film seems confused about exactly how to portray Dylan’s enigmatic nature. Conveyed excellently through Chalamet’s performance, the musician’s withdrawn demeanour appears to be an allure of sorts but by the film’s account, it is more crucially how Dylan became an enchanting American heartthrob. Still, Dylan’s fans will notice the absence of media scrutiny surrounding the star’s image and music, integral to understanding his elusive nature.
A drowsy love triangle
Nevertheless, Chalamet shines the brightest in moments of quiet contemplation, obsessively scrawling notepad lyrics, finding chord progressions, and mumbling lyrics. In fact, the actor’s entire performance captures the nuances of Dylan’s unintelligible rambling to a tee, only occasionally appearing an impression. The evolution of Chalamet’s physical appearance holds to Dylan’s true transition but ultimately lacks context as to ‘why’.
The star’s frenzied performance is thankfully aided by the rest of the cast. Playing fierce folk songstress Joan Baez, Monica Barbaro stands out as a withdrawn counter to Chalamet’s charm and mischievousness. Her role competes with the fictional pseudonym Sylvie Russo, who Elle Fanning plays as a homogeneity of Dylan’s real-life love interests and girlfriends. Dylan’s request to conceal his ex-lover’s identity in the film is somewhat telling, but it ultimately seems to erase any identity from her character. Fanning’s role amidst the drowsy love triangle is disappointingly clichéd, even if there is truth to the events portrayed.
Mangold: A transportive director
Whilst I have a contentious relationship with Mangold’s work, I’ve long admired his production design and dedication to portraying an authentic past. Whether it be the rebellious highs and lows of Johnny Cash’s life in Walk the Line or the nail-biting race sequences of Ford v Ferrari, Mangold knows how to entice an audience. For the most part, A Complete Unknown sustains that ability. With prolonged (sometimes to a fault) music sequences that genuinely transport the viewer to a time most generations have no concept or recollection of.
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Whilst the recreation of ‘60s New York is redundant at this point in cinema, it is impressively rendered, as are Mangold’s meticulous implementations of staging and costume design throughout the production. Additionally, the director goes to great lengths (assisted by Chalamet’s performance) to portray Dylan as an outsider within the folk scene. The film’s subtle cinematography expresses his transition to a future of rock and roll as opposed to progressive folk, further reflecting the social climate accurately.
Despite this, the film ultimately succumbs to numerous Hollywood biopic tropes. With rampant misremembering of history (the “Judas” line amongst them), and moments integral to the American psyche in the 1960’s swept beneath a tidal wave of by-the-numbers clichés, Mangold does little to excite the imagination surrounding this folk hero’s story. Unless you’re interested in another stellar Chalamet performance, I’d let this one keep blowing in the wind.