Movie Number 7 of 2025
The Movie: A Complete Unknown
The Cinema: Village Cinemas, Rivoli Camberwell
Stars: 4.5
Bob Dylan has always been an enigma. The voice of a decade. The voice of the times. An incredible songwriter and folk singer, at 83, he's still creating music. A Complete Unknown looks at the time in the 60s when he was just starting out.
And it is awesome.
Timothee Chalamet plays Bob Dylan, a man who nobody knew, who came from practically nowhere and became a star of the folk music scene in the 1960s. An important voice at a time of change. A writer of songs that we still hear today. This is Chalamet's movie. He's incredible in this, doing all of his own singing in a music heavy movie.
The film looks at Dylan's life from the time he first came to New York in the early 60s, his relationship with Pete Seeger (An impressive performance by Edward Norton), the influence Woody Guthrie (Scoot McNairy), his work with Joan Baez (Monica Barbaro) and his relationship with Susie, renamed Sylvie Russo (Elle Fanning, possibly the only one not to put in an Oscar nomination worth performance).
Chalamet emobodies Dylan, as well as singing all of the songs in the film. He's quite deservedly been nominated for the Best Actor Oscar. He's in with a decent change of receiving the award. Saying this, he doesn't let Dylan be a hero. If anything, Bob Dylan would not be the easiest person to have in your life. Mercurial. Silent. Brooding, Chalamet portrays him with grace.
James Mangold has written and directed a cracker of a film. It is deep, thought-provoking and the narrative drive is perfect. It's amazing what he's achieved in two hours and twenty minutes. The film is perfectly paced.
The other phenomenal thing about this film is the music. I was raised on a steady diet of Bob Dylan and could sing along in my head with ease. The music takes the film to another level. Monica Barbaro brings a young Joan Baez to life.
Timothee Chalamet has a good chance of receiving his first Oscar for Best Actor - although the competition is fierce this year. The film is also up for Best Film, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Costume Design and Best Sound.
Go see this - it is worth the hype.
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