When it was announced that Timothée Chalamet would be playing Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown, I described the choice as “a sick joke.” Sure, casting biopics is hard, and perhaps my imagination was lacking, but Chalamet did not seem like a suitable choice. I am often critical of formulaic castings, particularly when it feels as though the leading man of the week was picked for no reason other than the interest he draws from younger moviegoers. I mean, come on—Bob Dylan? The world’s most iconic folk musician, Bob Dylan, and they caved to box office demands for someone already famous?
I was annoyed until I found myself in the theatre. In an odd twist of reality, Chalamet’s performance was show-stopping. He did not shy away from the complexity of Dylan’s iconic persona or the blithe attitude he had towards his personal relationships. Dylan was not made out to be a golden boy, and the film’s candour brought a refreshing novelty to the often dull biopic genre.
The film follows Dylan’s historic rise to fame, beginning with his arrival in New York City and culminating in his controversial choice to play the iconic “Maggie’s Farm” at the Newport Folk Festival. I was originally worried about the quality of the singing, but I need not have been. A well-selected mix of Americana folk, sung by the cast, told the film’s story as powerfully as the dialogue.
My original assumptions about the film and Chalamet were perhaps harsh and certainly wrong. Notably wrong, in fact, given that he has just received an Oscar nomination for Best Lead Actor for the role. Additionally, Monica Barbaro and Edward Norton have also been nominated for Best Supporting Actress and Actor, respectively. I cannot praise their performances enough; they bled off the screen fiercely, drawing you into the delicate web that was their relationships with Dylan.
I could advise you not to judge a book by its cover or pass on some other cliché life advice based on my revelation about this film. I would rather not. Instead, I humbly recommend that you go see it for yourself, just so we can both know how incredibly incorrect I was.
Illustration by Anna O’Gara