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• Editor’s note: This review was written before the Oscar nominations were announced.
“A Complete Unknown”
There is not a minute of this film that you won’t embrace. Taking place from 1961 to 1965, it tells the story of a 19-year-old Bob Dylan arriving in New York.
As he records one song after another, you watch his relationship with two women. His young immaturity leaves both of them walking away. Elle Fanning is heartwarming as his first love and Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez, also deserving of an Oscar consideration, has emotionally powerful scenes singing with him.
While I hope the film wins a best picture Oscar, Timothée Chalamet deserves a best actor Oscar for his role as Dylan. His singing and guitar playing recreates history in a fashion seldom seen on the big screen. This was a time I was in high school, and it put me in a time machine where I was young again.
On top of that is another Oscar worthy performance by Edward Norton as Pete Seeger. Outspoken in his support of civil rights and anti-war efforts, he was one of Dylan’s earliest supporters. With his help, watch the scene where Dylan meets the bed confined Woody Guthrie (Scott McNairy) and sings “Song to Woody.” Mr. Guthrie died in 1967.
Director James Mangold has been criticized for changing Dylan’s history at times, but I find that completely irrelevant. Sure, Dylan was booed by crowd members when he introduced electric guitars at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival. But it added a great chapter to the art world by combining folk and rock music.
See this film while it still is in movie theatres. Dylan used his youth in Minnesota to help create a deserved music legend in New York.•
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Robert Hammerle specializes in criminal law as of counsel with Hackman Hulett LLP. When he is not working , Bob can likely be found at one of his favorite movie theaters.
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