Movies
A Complete Unknown Review
What does it mean to be an artist?
by Cam Schuster I 3rd February 2025
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Is it the money and the fame? Is it for the love of the craft, the opportunity to create something out of nothing for other people to enjoy? It was more of the latter for American icon and musician Bob Dylan. If money helped pay the bills, fame was just an inconvenient side effect. Freedom. What being an artist truly means is having the strength to control your narrative, the ability to evolve your creativity, and the courage to change direction and move toward your new vision when the fans, friends, and mentors say No! This is what Dylan means to the art form—the first rockstar. Hero. This is my takeaway from director James Mangold’s biopic A Complete Unknown starring Timothee Chalamet as the enigmatic Bob Dylan.
A Complete Unknown is so far the best movie I have seen in 2025, with a stellar and inspired performance by Chalamet who spent 5 years before shooting, practicing guitar and harmonica. The Wonka and Dune actor slips into the main role flawlessly nailing Dylan's mannerisms, physicality, and singing voice. It's one of the best acting portrayals of a real person up there with Jamie Foxx as Ray Charles or Ben Kingsley as Gandhi. Dylan’s folk duet partner Joan Baez played by Monica Barbaro and Edward Norton who plays folk music legend and Dylan mentor Pete Seegar rounds up a fantastic cast
James Mangold is no stranger to directing musical biopics as his 2005 film ‘Walk The Line’ about legendary country singer Johnny Cash won 3 Golden Globes including best picture. Mangold’s linear storytelling is a welcome retreat from the experimental 2007 Dylan film ‘I’m Not There’ which featured seven actors playing Dylan at various times of his life.
A Complete Unknown covers the first 5 years of Dylan’s music career from 1961 to 1965. From the time Dylan arrived in New York City as a 20-year-old to meet his idol and folk music legend Woody Guthrie, and became a superstar in the folk music scene until he transitioned to electric guitar. The film explores Dylan as an evolving artist and his ability to reinvent himself and his music while blocking out the noise and outside influences that ‘box him in.’ Here’s a dude who grew up in a small town, found himself then got bored, moved to New York, found himself, got bored then found himself again. This is how Mangold described to the real-life Bob Dylan the basic story of the main character. In the film, we see Dylan become a great folk singer and songwriter under the mentorship of folk legend Pete Seegar (Norton). The political events at the time and his on-and-off relationship with folk singer Joan Baez (Barbaro) helped Dylan transcend that genre of music into electric instruments to the disapproval of his peers and fans while gaining new audiences in rock and roll. As I said, this was the most interesting time of Dylan's life
The music in A Complete Unknown is solid gold, and at times got me in my feels. The first song ‘A Song To Guthrie’ brought a tear to my eye, while Dylan’s hit song ‘Like A Rolling Stone’ got a fist pump feeling like the Blues winning Super Rugby in 2024. If you’re into country-style acoustic ballads you will enjoy the music, you don't need to be a Bob Dylan fan to enjoy this film either. Mangold captures the folk music scene with a sincerity that is fascinating to watch, you feel like you are transported back in time because you fall into the world on the screen.
A Complete Unknown Best Picture Oscar nomination is well deserved and I won’t be surprised if it wins. I have found a new appreciation of folk music and listened to a few songs on Spotify from the likes of Pete Seegar, Joan Baez, Tom Paxton, and Dylan himself. Even threw on some documentaries on YouTube explaining the Folk Music Revival of that time. The experience of the film still dwells in my mind and is enough for me to know it’s up there in the ‘classics’ category. Chalamet’s performance is mean and it’s no wonder the media has named him as the next movie superstar following in the footsteps of DiCaprio or Tom Cruise. A Complete Unknown is the best film I’ve seen so far in 2025, its movie magic with Mangold creating a window to the past where we look into and see a slice of life of a man who has transcended music. The film itself doesn't relate to Polynesians like the Ritchie Valens biopic La Bamba, but it is a great film for music historians, songwriters, and artists looking for inspiration. A must for all music fans. 5 out of 5 harmonicas