A review of the new film “A Complete Unknown”
This bio-pic of the emergence of singer-songwriter Bob Dylan between 1961-1965 has been a critical and commercial success with no less than eight Academy Award nominations and six BAFTA nominations. The acting and singing by Timothée Chalamet in the eponymous role and Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez are simply magnificent and Edward Norton and Elle Fanning in support roles are excellent.
My problem is that I’m not a fan of folk music: I find too much of it conservative and maudlin. And I’m not keen on Bob Dylan either: I think his lyrics are moaning, his singing is whinny and his character is unpleasant. As Joan Baez puts it in the movie: “You know, you’re kind of an asshole Bob” and “You are so completely full of shit”.
I tried to separate my views on the music from my assessment of the film as cinema. Even then, I thought too many scenes were dark and the colours bleached and much of the dialogue mumbled or snatched. I remember a lot of the music – I was a teenager at the time – but there was just so much of it in this film that it made the work – sorry about this – kinda boring.
I may be one of the few people in my friendship group who doesn’t like Dylan and was not keen on this film, but I have to call it as I see it.