A Complete Unknown

It's a partial musical biopic of Bob Dylan (Timothée Chalamet) from 1961 to 1965. The film opens with Dylan arriving in New York City searching for Woody Guthrie (Scoot McNairy). He meets Pete Seeger (Edward Norton) and his wife, Toshi (Eriko Hatsune). He starts to make music under the management of Albert Grossman (Dan Fogler). Dylan also meets Sylvie Russo/Suze Rotolo (Elle Fanning) and Joan Baez (Monica Barbaro). Later, he corresponds with Johnny Cash (Boyd Holbrook). Others from Dylan's developing entourage and other musicians from the era also appear in the film.

"A Complete Unknown" is a remarkable but incomplete interpretation of Bob Dylan in the first half of the 1960s. The music (it's almost a musical) deserves a 10. Everyone does a remarkable job. The relationship between Bob Dylan and Pete Seeger is the most thoroughly explored and feels right. Likewise, the relationship between Dylan and Sylvie/Suze seems real. Dylan's relationship with Joan Baez feels less clearly examined, and I dropped my rating by one point. Some documentaries do a better job on their relationship.

"A Complete Unknown" absolutely portrays Dylan as a musical genius who refuses to be boxed into expectations. I've always believed Dylan's music reflected the people around him at any particular time until he moved on, discarding relationships as he went. Thus, his early protest music reflected Seeger, Rotolo, and Baez. But Dylan's passion was his music, not someone else's politics. He's a cultural genius without his own center.