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A COMPLETE UNKNOWN
A dazzling performance by Timothee Chalamet that has earned him a second Oscar nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor is at the center of a unique and riveting musical biopic of musical icon Bob Dylan called a Complete Unknown that doesn't travel the typical biopic route because Dylan was not your typical musician.
The 2024 film opens in the 1960's where we see Dylan travel to a hospital to visit his musical idol, Woody Guthrie, who is now bedridden and unable to speak. He also meets Pete Seegar there who becomes his musical mentor and leading him to an eventual level of superstardom as a singer and songwriter that I don't think Dylan was actually interested in.
Director and co-screenwriter James Mangold, who directed Reese Witherspoon to an Oscar in Walk the Line gets a lot of credit for a screenplay that doesn't follow the typical biopic path, providing varied surprises along the cinematic journey. The Dylan presented in this story is a guy who is passionate about his music, but had very little interest in the glamorous trappings that accompany success in show business. There's a scene where he opens up a royalty check for $10,000 and doesn't bat an eye. We never see big changes in his lifestyle and unlike a lot of movie musicians, his guitar is not an appendage that never leaves his chest. There are no scenes of him getting hooked on drugs and alcohol or passing out onstage. His reaction to being expected to sing at a fundraiser where he didn't even bring his guitar or a theater full of people who demand he sing "Blowin with the Wind" when it wasn't on his play list ring totally true. He loves music but we never really see it consume him or he get consumed by the business. He also never forgets Pete Seegar and Woody Guthrie and the impact they made on his music.
As for his personal life, romance is implied between Dylan and a young hippie named Sylvia Russo, but a romantic tension is also presented between Dylan and Joan Baez that isn't directly addressed until the final third of the film and when it is, it seems that Dylan is completely unaware of what Baez means to him. But romance is not what this movie is about. It's about a musician who, according to this screenplay, cared about his music and nothing else...not really.
The film has received 8 Oscar nominations including Best Picture, Best Actor for Chalamet, who once again effortlessly disappears inside a character and could finally earn him the Oscar he's been chasing. Edward Norton has received a Supporting Actor nomination for his Pete Seegar, and Monica Barbaro as Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Joan Baez that provides quiet chills and some lovely vocals. Fans of Dylan and Chalamet will have a ball here.
A dazzling performance by Timothee Chalamet that has earned him a second Oscar nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor is at the center of a unique and riveting musical biopic of musical icon Bob Dylan called a Complete Unknown that doesn't travel the typical biopic route because Dylan was not your typical musician.
The 2024 film opens in the 1960's where we see Dylan travel to a hospital to visit his musical idol, Woody Guthrie, who is now bedridden and unable to speak. He also meets Pete Seegar there who becomes his musical mentor and leading him to an eventual level of superstardom as a singer and songwriter that I don't think Dylan was actually interested in.
Director and co-screenwriter James Mangold, who directed Reese Witherspoon to an Oscar in Walk the Line gets a lot of credit for a screenplay that doesn't follow the typical biopic path, providing varied surprises along the cinematic journey. The Dylan presented in this story is a guy who is passionate about his music, but had very little interest in the glamorous trappings that accompany success in show business. There's a scene where he opens up a royalty check for $10,000 and doesn't bat an eye. We never see big changes in his lifestyle and unlike a lot of movie musicians, his guitar is not an appendage that never leaves his chest. There are no scenes of him getting hooked on drugs and alcohol or passing out onstage. His reaction to being expected to sing at a fundraiser where he didn't even bring his guitar or a theater full of people who demand he sing "Blowin with the Wind" when it wasn't on his play list ring totally true. He loves music but we never really see it consume him or he get consumed by the business. He also never forgets Pete Seegar and Woody Guthrie and the impact they made on his music.
As for his personal life, romance is implied between Dylan and a young hippie named Sylvia Russo, but a romantic tension is also presented between Dylan and Joan Baez that isn't directly addressed until the final third of the film and when it is, it seems that Dylan is completely unaware of what Baez means to him. But romance is not what this movie is about. It's about a musician who, according to this screenplay, cared about his music and nothing else...not really.
The film has received 8 Oscar nominations including Best Picture, Best Actor for Chalamet, who once again effortlessly disappears inside a character and could finally earn him the Oscar he's been chasing. Edward Norton has received a Supporting Actor nomination for his Pete Seegar, and Monica Barbaro as Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Joan Baez that provides quiet chills and some lovely vocals. Fans of Dylan and Chalamet will have a ball here.