As a director, James Mangold is somewhat of a chameleon. When looking at his filmography, it’s hard to nail down what exactly makes a “Mangold movie.” This isn’t a knock on the director, but rather, proof that he’s very good at matching the style of whatever project he’s working on. Even when he’s operating in a genre we’ve seen countless times, Mangold knows how to make a strong version of that genre that makes the occasional clichés work for the story. Ford v. Ferrari wasn’t necessarily groundbreaking as a racing film, but it utilized the strengths of its predecessors. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny found Mangold having to step into Steven Spielberg’s shoes, which he did admirably. Films like 3:10 to Yuma and Logan played with the language of Westerns to evoke stories that couldn’t help remind us of the best of the genre.

At this point, musical biopics might be the easiest films to fall into cliché and formula, and now, Mangold has tackled the genre quite well with two separate films. 2005’s Walk the Line, coming on the heels of the similarly-structured Ray, was able to do Johnny Cash’s life story justice, despite the familiarity of films like it that had come before (and directly leading to the parody of Walk the Line, the brilliant Walk Hard). With Mangold’s latest, A Complete Unknown, the director and co-writer (alongside Silence and The Last Temptation of Christ’s Jay Cocks), Mangold takes on the challenging task of bringing Bob Dylan’s life to the screen.

Many other films have depicted Dylan, finding their own unique way into the man who could easily be seen as an enigma. D. A. Pennebaker’s landmark documentary Don’t Look Back followed Dylan for his 1965 tour in England, while the 2019 doc, Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese had Scorsese embracing the absurdity and pure fiction of Dylan’s history. Maybe the most brilliant handling came in Todd Haynes’ I’m Not There, in which actors as varied as Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Marcus Carl Franklin, Richard Gere, Heath Ledger, and Ben Whishaw each took on various versions of Dylan that have existed over the years. Mangold is more conventional than these other approaches, yet he proves that telling a more straightforward look at Dylan’s life can work. A Complete Unknown can’t fight off the formulaic nature of the genre, yet still finds a bold and captivating way to tell Dylan’s story.

What Is ‘A Complete Unknown’ About?

Based on the book Dylan Goes Electric!, Mangold and Cocks’ screenplay wisely narrows in on just a few years of Dylan’s life, instead of attempting to encapsulate the entirety of who he is in two and a half hours. We first meet Dylan (Timothée Chalamet) going by “Bobby” in 1961, as he’s just moved from Minnesota to New York. Almost immediately upon arriving in NYC, he tries to find his hero, Woody Guthrie (Scoot McNairy), who he discovers is laid up in a New Jersey hospital. He makes the journey there, where he meets another folk legend Pete Seeger (Edward Norton), and after playing a song for these two icons, they see something in the young Bobby.

Making his way through the folk music scene, Dylan crosses paths with two women who will be instrumental in his life. He meets Sylvie Russo (Elle Fanning), based on Suze Rotolo, who he soon moves in with; both are young, in love and still finding themselves. But he also meets Joan Baez (Monica Barbaro), who is becoming an icon at the time, and with whom Dylan has an artistic connection he doesn’t share with Sylvie, as the two spark up their own difficult relationship of sorts. As Dylan works his way up the folk ladder, he begins to gain even more fans and admirers, including Johnny Cash (Boyd Holbrook) and starts to become one of the biggest artists of the time.

A Complete Unknown eventually jumps forward to an integral year for Dylan in 1965, as he records arguably his most famous work, Highway 61 Revisited, while the film builds up to the Newport Folk Festival, in which Dylan would famously cause outrage for “going electric.” Over the course of these four years, we can see just how quickly Dylan changed from a struggling musician to a voice of a generation, and how that pressure mounted on the artist who just wanted to do what he liked with his art, without the limitations of the genre.

The Songs Are the Star of ‘A Complete Unknown’

One of the smartest choices that Mangold makes throughout A Complete Unknown is making the music of Dylan the star of the show.Chalamet sings 40 Dylan songs in the film, and while there are moments when Mangold focuses on the song’s performance, far more often, we’re watching those who are watching Chalamet’s Dylan. This isn’t necessarily a way to show Dylan’s brilliance or profundity — although it’s easy to find a greater appreciation of Dylan’s songs in these moments — but so we also pay attention to the lyrics like these bystanders do. It also shows the power of Dylan’s music, whether when he performs for Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger, Dylan runs off to perform a song he has just written the day of John F. Kennedy’s assassination, or the way “The Times They Are A-Changin’” could immediately feel like an anthem of a generation. Mangold’s purpose with A Complete Unknown seemingly isn’t to show Dylan’s life but to present the music and its importance, which it does effectively.

Related The 10 Best Musician Biopics, Ranked From a Rocketman to a Funny Girl.

Mangold and Cocks’ screenplay also does a fantastic job of showing Dylan’s style as the next step in folk music, an accomplishment that Dylan could see, yet others struggled with. Again, when Dylan performs for Seeger and Guthrie, they see the talent of the next generation that they helped create. As we follow Dylan in the first half, we realize how his song lyrics are more intricate and more detailed at capturing a mood than almost anyone else in the field. Similarly, when we jump to 1965, Dylan shows that the beauty and heart of folk can be spread into other sounds and styles. Just because a song is played with electric instruments instead of acoustically doesn’t alter the message and soul of the words. By the end of the film, we see Dylan not only as a disruptor of genre and music’s possibilities but as the next step in music’s evolution, taking the torch from what Guthrie and Seeger helped create. It’s the significance of the songs and the consequences of Dylan’s choices as a musician that become the focus, rather than being a by-the-numbers musical biopic.

Timothée Chalamet Is an Excellent Bob Dylan
Image Via Searchlight Pictures

But even though A Complete Unknown does often feel like it’s veering into conventional territory, it’s that focus on the music, its importance, and some incredible performances that help balance things out. Chalamet in particular is excellent as Dylan, nailing the sound and style of the musician, but never in a way that feels like a caricature. You’re always aware that this is Chalamet playing Dylan, instead of an actor trying to become enveloped in that other person. When we’re with 1961 Dylan, Chalamet is confident in his talents, yet awkward in his way that makes him unpredictable. He’s strange but endearing, and there’s a magnetism that he exudes that overtakes his flaws. When we jump to 1965, Chalamet manages to shift this performance into something far more like Dylan in Don’t Look Back, as we see the frustration of being pigeonholed into what other people want him to be. Chalamet always does excellent work, and taking on Dylan seemed like an unwinnable situation, yet he gives one of his best performances in A Complete Unknown.

Chalamet is also surrounded by a great supporting cast of musicians who honor these artists rather than making them one-note. Monica Barbaro is particularly wonderful as Joan Baez, who seems to be the only one who can figure out Dylan’s mentality at any given time. She’s a powerful woman who sees the potential in Dylan, and their mutual appreciation for each other is one of the most interesting dynamics of the film. Norton is also strong as Pete Seeger, who could’ve felt like an “aww, shucks, that’s not how we do it”-type folk singer. While he occasionally veers into that, we can tell it comes from a place of well-meaning through Norton’s performance. He takes on an almost father figure importance in Dylan’s life, from someone who sees talent in this young kid, but also someone trying to guide him, despite his frustrations. Also underrated here is McNairy, who isn’t able to speak as Woody Guthrie, yet we can see in his eyes the importance that he feels Dylan has for the future of folk music, and his friendship with Dylan is unexpectedly moving.

Balancing out Dylan’s unpredictability, however, is Elle Fanning as Sylvie, who simply can’t connect with Dylan as much as she would like. This bond is of great importance to both of them, no matter how often they try to pretend it isn’t. Fanning’s performance makes her immediately likable as she gives Dylan the boost he needs to become a star. It’s in this relationship where A Complete Unknown could’ve once again become too similar to the music biopics we’ve seen in the past. Yet Mangold avoids this by making it clear from the start that things likely won’t go well for these two, that outgrowing each other is inevitable. While we root for this relationship, the inevitability of the future can’t be stopped. It’s fantastic to see a romantic interest in a film like this stand up to the artist, commanding respect and love, rather than putting up with the artist’s shit, which happens way too often in films like these.

In a post-Walk Hard world, it’s difficult for a musical biopic to not feel clichéd and repetitive when it’s also playing in the tropes that we know so well (many of which were reinforced with Mangold’s Walk the Line). But A Complete Unknown manages to thread the line beautifully, presenting an enigmatic artistic figure in a direct way that doesn’t feel monotonous, while also giving the audience a greater appreciation for the music at hand. It all works to give us a film that also includes one of the year’s best performances in Chalamet, along with a tremendous supporting cast. Musical biopics were once one of the more tedious, mundane genres for artists to play around with, but A Complete Unknown shows that the times, they are a-changin’.

A Complete Unknown comes to theaters on December 25.

Your changes have been saved A Complete Unknown James Mangold’s A Complete Unknown explores the music of Bob Dylan with fantastic care and a great performance by Timothée Chalamet.ProsJames Mangold manages to make a fairly straightforward musical biopic shine.Timothée Chalamet does Bob Dylan justice in one of his best performances.Mangold makes the music of Dylan the star, earning a greater appreciation for these songs. ConsRegardless, Mangold can’t entirely get away from the formulaic nature of the musical biopic at times.

Your changes have been saved A Complete Unknown: Set in the vibrant New York music scene of the early 1960s, the film follows the journey of 19-year-old Minnesota musician Bob Dylan. It captures his rapid ascent from a budding folk singer to a prominent figure in concert halls and on the charts, highlighting his impact on the music world.Release Date December 25, 2024 Cast Timothée Chalamet , Edward Norton , Elle Fanning , Monica Barbaro , Nick Offerman , Boyd Holbrook , P.J. Byrne , Scoot McNairy , Dan Fogler , Will Harrison , Charlie Tahan , Jon Gennari , Norbert Leo Butz

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