You would think the Bob Dylan story would be 'wind-swept and interesting,' to quote Billy Connelly, however, despite A Complete Unknown being quite an engaging film, it feels like it missed the years that really shaped him as a song writer/performer.
The film starts in 1961, with a then unknown, 19-year-old Bob Dylan (Timothée Chalamet) arriving in New York City with his guitar.
From there he forges relationships with musical icons on his meteoric rise, culminating in a groundbreaking performance that reverberates around the world.
The problem being, according to this film, Dylan arrived in New York, for the most part, fully formed as a folk singer/song writer. In virtually no time he makes a very important connection that puts him on the trajectory of doing the work and becoming a name, before making his world changing performance.
While there is some drama behind the scenes with his various relationships, none of it is particularly unique to any number of up and coming musical performers. It's all very pedestrian. Yet still engaging and a fun time - probably thanks to Dylan's music which we hear throughout.
There are one or two scenes that elude to his life before New York that hint he may have been a 'Carney', either working or performing at carnivals, but it's never explored or fleshed out, making it seem like Dylan shouldn't really have enough life experiences to write some of the lyrics he did.
Like a Rolling Stone, the song that this movie takes its title from seems to suggest this may be true with lyrics like "Ah you never turned around to see the frowns, on the jugglers and the clowns when they all did tricks for you". However it could all just be clever metaphors and analogies he crafted out of thin air.
Timothée Chalamet gives a pretty convincing performance as Dylan, even doing all his own singing. There's just not much here to warrant a bio pic that feels uniquely Dylan's story.
That said, it's still a very watchable movie that moves along at a steady pace, with Dylan's music tying it all together.
Worth a watch or two if you're a Bob Dylan fan for sure.
Lesley and I went to see this movie for her birthday on 27th March. It was the only one suitable for both of us at the time as the others were mostly about super heroes or sci fi s or children's movies.
ReplyDeleteIt's a bit hazy now but I found some of it a bit confusing as it was going backwards and forwards in his life. It didn't do the flashbacks showing the lines as it went back or forwards, but I think you had to rely on it putting the date span ie: so many months later or before etc.
I liked the lad playing Bob Dylan, he did a good job. I don't think he sang Like A Rolling Stone, but Lesley said it might not have got to that bit. I think she said it was only up to the part where he became famous. I could have commented more if I'd got to put this on sooner, but can't remember some of what I saw now. Not a bad movie on the whole.
Timothée Chalamet definitely did a great job as Dylan. Sang and played all the music himself. Definitely sang 'Like a Rolling Stone'. The movie's title is a line from the chorus of that song...
Delete"How does it feel?
How does it feel?
To be without a home?
Like a complete unknown?
Like a rolling stone?"
Well, it's a long time since March, I can't remember. I also couldn't remember it was a line from the song as I hadn't heard it in a long while but know some of the other lines. I probably wouldn't have picked this film to go to on my own, though I like Bob Dylan and his songs, but it was the only film that was suitable for both of us to see.
ReplyDelete