A Complete Unknown
I don't even know how to "rate" this Timothy Chamalet-as-Bob Dylan movie because I'm one of those people whose brain was broken for music biopics after Dewey Cox made it impossible for me to watch them fairly. I also am probably as knowledgable about Dylan as a post-boomer can be so I was already aware of the major events and personalities involved, which is Dylan's life and career starting from his youthful pilgramage to New York up until is "going electric" performance at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival.
I do prefer movies that focus on one event as opposed to a whole life in order to convey uniqueness and importance of a person and I think the movie gets stronger as it goes on and culminates in that moment. Earlier on when he is relatively unknown it's that thing where everybody's so impressed and amazed by him including legendary artists like Pete Seeger and every woman just wants to f*** him and take care of him, it's hard to understand why without having been there. I mean I just can't imagine anyone under like 40 to see Joan Baez reacting to Dylan's original songs with wonder and even caring or understanding because this was 1962 and it was big freaking deal. They try to do that by setting against the background the Cuban Missile Crisis and JFK's assassination but it all just feels like all those boomer nostalgia TV shows that came out in the 1990s and it was corny then. I feel like we're in nostalgia for 1990s version of 60's nostalgia...
At least the second half with the conflict around how to approach the folk festival added human stakes with understandable drama. And the ending is emotionally ambiguous which was interesting. I also think Chalamet's Dylan comes off better once he hits the shade-wearing asshole version of Dylan, but then he also had a lot of material to go off with the Don't Look Back film as a template.
The actress that plays Joan Baez adds some real good jilted woman energy that is delightful and, IMO, a bit fan-servicy. But a nice counterpoint to Susan Rotello acting as the poor put-upon sucker, but I don't know how else to portray a woman who we all know KNEW her man was openly screwing around, at least from a modern perspective.
A movie like this, you have to look at two ways:
1- Is it, on its own, a good story, regardless of one's familiarity or interest in the subject material? Can a Dylan-agnostic get into this?
Well I couldn't say as I absolutely have a relationship with Dylan's music, having listened to most of it a lot, reading about it, having many thoughts about it, and seriously acknowledging him as the most important figure in the latter half of the 20th century music.
But is there a story interesting on its own? I don't think so- an egotistical songwriter steps on everybody to get ahead but it's kinda cool because he's such an individual? Eh...
2- Does it provide any unique insight or perspective on the subject?
I don't think so. If you watch Don't Look Back, read a book or couple articles that put the music in context and get a primer on the personalities involved such as Pete Seeger, Bob Newerth, Susie Rotello, Joan Baez, Woody Guthrie, Al Kooper, Mike Bloomfield, Johnny Cash, and Alan Grossman, and of course listen to his albums and a couple of key bootlegs like the Royal Albert Hall, you're not going to get anything new here (and might even nitpick at some of the liberties the film took with the details).
tl;dr Dewey Cox Walks Hard Again
I don't even know how to "rate" this Timothy Chamalet-as-Bob Dylan movie because I'm one of those people whose brain was broken for music biopics after Dewey Cox made it impossible for me to watch them fairly. I also am probably as knowledgable about Dylan as a post-boomer can be so I was already aware of the major events and personalities involved, which is Dylan's life and career starting from his youthful pilgramage to New York up until is "going electric" performance at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival.
I do prefer movies that focus on one event as opposed to a whole life in order to convey uniqueness and importance of a person and I think the movie gets stronger as it goes on and culminates in that moment. Earlier on when he is relatively unknown it's that thing where everybody's so impressed and amazed by him including legendary artists like Pete Seeger and every woman just wants to f*** him and take care of him, it's hard to understand why without having been there. I mean I just can't imagine anyone under like 40 to see Joan Baez reacting to Dylan's original songs with wonder and even caring or understanding because this was 1962 and it was big freaking deal. They try to do that by setting against the background the Cuban Missile Crisis and JFK's assassination but it all just feels like all those boomer nostalgia TV shows that came out in the 1990s and it was corny then. I feel like we're in nostalgia for 1990s version of 60's nostalgia...
At least the second half with the conflict around how to approach the folk festival added human stakes with understandable drama. And the ending is emotionally ambiguous which was interesting. I also think Chalamet's Dylan comes off better once he hits the shade-wearing asshole version of Dylan, but then he also had a lot of material to go off with the Don't Look Back film as a template.
The actress that plays Joan Baez adds some real good jilted woman energy that is delightful and, IMO, a bit fan-servicy. But a nice counterpoint to Susan Rotello acting as the poor put-upon sucker, but I don't know how else to portray a woman who we all know KNEW her man was openly screwing around, at least from a modern perspective.
A movie like this, you have to look at two ways:
1- Is it, on its own, a good story, regardless of one's familiarity or interest in the subject material? Can a Dylan-agnostic get into this?
Well I couldn't say as I absolutely have a relationship with Dylan's music, having listened to most of it a lot, reading about it, having many thoughts about it, and seriously acknowledging him as the most important figure in the latter half of the 20th century music.
But is there a story interesting on its own? I don't think so- an egotistical songwriter steps on everybody to get ahead but it's kinda cool because he's such an individual? Eh...
2- Does it provide any unique insight or perspective on the subject?
I don't think so. If you watch Don't Look Back, read a book or couple articles that put the music in context and get a primer on the personalities involved such as Pete Seeger, Bob Newerth, Susie Rotello, Joan Baez, Woody Guthrie, Al Kooper, Mike Bloomfield, Johnny Cash, and Alan Grossman, and of course listen to his albums and a couple of key bootlegs like the Royal Albert Hall, you're not going to get anything new here (and might even nitpick at some of the liberties the film took with the details).
tl;dr Dewey Cox Walks Hard Again
