“A complete unknown”

Saw it. Loved it!

These days I levitate towards most of his newer releases of the last 20 years where he has a lot of new, relevant and very interesting things to say, perhaps more than ever, in addition to exploring new horizons musically, mostly music with American origins, beyond just the folk-based music he became famous for initially way back when.

Also saw him live last year on Rough and Rowdy Ways Tour. My wife went as well, also saw the movie and is now a Dylan fan as well, which totally surprises me.  She’s an Elvis and Abba fan also. 🤭

I had the misfortune of seeing it in a theater with a bad sound system which sounded like it had been beat to death showing action movies. Dialogue was about 50% intellligible. Music was often shrill and cacophonous. For some reason during the Big Bill blues scene the music of him playing was all there.

Check out Don't Look Back, D. A. Pennebaker's documentary shot during Bob Dylan's 1965 concert tour in England.  In a 2014 Sight & Sound poll, film critics voted it the ninth best documentary film of all time.

Saw it yesterday and liked it much more than I'd expected to. Chalamet is amazing; he somehow manages to imitate not only Dylan's singing voice and guitar/harmonica playing (he had to learn all of that; he'd contracted to do the movie before the pandemic, so he had years to perfect it); he even manages Dylan's posture, gait, and speaking cadences, and his "cool" vibe, which can read as arrogance (or just self-aware certainty of his own genius). 

Supporting characters are also great impersonations (of Joan Baez, Pete Seeger, and especially Johnny Cash).

Read Richard Brody's review in the NYTimes. He complains that the film doesn't really rise above impersonation, which has some validity. Still, how can a mere movie give much insight into the mysterious cultural force that was (is still) Dylan?

"Don't Look Back" is a must for anyone who wants real insight into Dylan, since it's a masterful documentary that spans roughly the same years as "A Complete Unknown." Chalamet clearly learned from it. And, FWIW, Brody likes "I'm Not Here," which is more "ambitious" as far as attempting insight into Dylan's character in clever ways (I mean, Kate Blanchett plays Dylan in one of his periods!).