How it Feels Watching 'A Complete Unknown'

Talkin' new Bob Dylan biopic blues.

I really liked A Complete Unknown. I just couldn’t resist that subhead.

Back in 2015, I caught author Elijah Wald giving a lecture at the UNC Southern Folklife Center about his book, Dylan Goes Electric! Now, that book has been made into, as they say in the biz, “A Major Motion Picture.”

I am not a fan of biopics. I knew what I was getting going in. I knew the filmmakers would play fast and loose with the facts in favor of a dramatic arc. I also knew that Bob Dylan has spent a career - a lifetime, actually - playing fast and loose with the facts. He’s an ever-elusive magician, and he’s been able to maintain his mystique for close to 65 years. Even now, in a culture of influencers busy oversharing and navel-gazing, he pops up (as Timothée Chalamet does here in a hilarious scene with a harmonica while Will Harrison’s Bob Neuwirth plays “Railroad Bill”) on X with random observations, quips, and memories.

Going into A Complete Unknown knowing that nothing will be revealed, just like going into any venture where Dylan is involved, is the only way to truly enjoy the experience. Sure, the tropes are there, but director/screenwriter James Mangold, along with co-screenwriter Jay Cocks, add them with a knowing wink. They take Wald’s book as source material, yes, but they also use over 60 years of Dylan lore and sleight-of-hand to craft what they know will surely be one of the most scrutinized biopics by one of the most meticulous and insufferable fanbases in all of pop culture. (I say this as a devoted Dylan fanatic since I was 12 years old.)

I had to dive into this film emotionally rather than intellectually, and mostly - thankfully - the emotional side won out.

Intellectually, yes, I know they played with the facts. To wit: We don’t know if someone yelled “Judas!” at Newport ‘65, but we do know that Dylan didn’t respond at that time with “I don’t believe you.” That wasn’t caught on tape until the following year at the performance with the Band in Manchester, England, where Dylan also added, “You’re a liar!”

Of course, after the exchange, he also instructed the band to “Play it fucking loud” at Manchester, whereas in A Complete Unknown, after taking liberties with “I don’t believe you,” he quietly tells the Butterfield Blues Band to just “play it loud,” expletive unused. An interesting decision, but I think it shows Bob at Newport, on the verge of changing rock’n’roll forever, showing a bit of nervousness in the moment, whereas by May of ‘66, touring the world and being booed with Robbie Robertson and the guys, he was by then defiant and running on pure adrenaline. (Also, for the purists, yes, it was Peter Yarrow who brought Bob on initially at Newport, not Alan Lomax. But making Lomax part of the old “authentic” guard made dramatic sense, not to mention fun.)

It was a treat to see Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee portrayed, even if it was fleeting, and Big Bill Morganfield, the son of Muddy Waters, was fantastic as fictional bluesman Jesse Moffette, guesting on Pete Seeger’s short-lived TV show. The fictional jam that occurred between Morganfield, Chalamet, and Norton’s characters was one of the most joy-filled moments of the film. Even though it never really happened, it was still over too soon.

As for the performances, Chalamet does as fine a job as he can playing one of the most elusive characters to ever enter pop culture, even though he’s no Cate Blanchett. (Hearing him attempt to tackle Dylan’s songs is fascinating when you realize that Dylan, who was 20 when his debut was released, sounds much older at the time than 29 year old Timmy does now.) Ed Norton nailed Pete Seeger’s kindness and aw-shucks purity (the moment where he eyes the axes for a moment backstage at Newport prompted a chuckle). And Dan Fogler and Boyd Holbrook chew up their scenes as Albert Grossman and Johnny Cash, respectively.

Elle Fanning as Sylvie Russo (a composite of Suze Rotolo - reportedly Dylan didn’t want her real name used) and Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez share the difficult task of playing the women in Dylan’s life at a time when his ambitions outweighed everything else, including his relationships. Maybe it boils down to what he told Scorsese in No Direction Home when discussing his time with Baez.

Now that A Complete Unknown is out in theaters, let’s decide where to take this thing. Hollywood loves a sequel and I believe Mangold and Chalamet can turn A Complete Unknown into a franchise. Here’s my pitch:

A Complete Unknown II: Going Nowhere

Start with a weary Dylan and the Band at the end of the ‘66 tour, his motorcycle crash and recovery, his retreat to Woodstock, the Basement Tapes, working with Cash again, Nashville Skyline, Self-Portrait (including studio footage of working on “Wigwam”), his relationship with Sara and his kids, end with the ‘74 tour and starting work on Blood on the Tracks. Have Will Harrison play Robbie Robertson in this one.

A Complete Unknown III: Rolling Thunder

Desire, Hard Rain, the Rolling Thunder Revue, Ronaldo and Clara, Monica Barbaro reprises her role, Will Harrison returns this time as Neuwirth again. End with flying out to play Budokan.

A Complete Unknown IV: Saved

His “Christian phase”, beginning when someone throws a cross onstage while he’s performing. This one travels through the ‘80s, including the full re-enactment of his rehearsals for “We Are the World,” his work on Hearts of Fire, and up to his epiphany to start the “Never-Ending Tour.”

A Complete Unknown V: Soy Bomb

Starts with working with Daniel Lanois on Oh Mercy, receives the Grammy lifetime achievement award from Jack Nicholson in ‘91, runs through the ‘90s and Time Out of Mind, winning the Grammy Album of the Year, an Oscar, and ends on 9/11/01 and “Love and Theft.”

A Complete Unknown VI: Modern Times

Covering the early-aughts up to the present day: Theme Time Radio Hour; Masked and Anonymous; Christmas in the Heart; the Nobel Prize; his MusicCares speech. A full hour is just the studio sessions of two songs, “Tempest” and “Murder Most Foul.” End with Dylan discovering his X login credentials.

I did thoroughly enjoy A Complete Unknown for what it was: a vehicle to hopefully hip a new generation to the most important pop/folk/rock songwriter of the 20th century, who is still on the road and available to see in a town near you, hopefully again soon.

For better thought-out and well-considered reviews of A Complete Unknown, check out Anne Margaret Daniel and Caryn Rose. For a point-by-point entertaining fact check on the film, check out Chris Willman’s piece for Variety. Finally, a powerful piece from

Merrill Markoe

on the underutilization of Toshi Seeger’s character can be found here:

'A Complete Unknown': The Ballad of TOSHI

More on Bobby D from me:

Happy Birthday, Zimmy

From the archive: Dylan Plugz In, Big Hair Falls Flat