A Complete Unknown is going to be a hard sell
I have to admit, there was a serious lack of movies that I was interested in seeing this weekend. In fact, I was about to review Carry-On (Netflix). But the weather forecast promised a few days of hunkering down in my snowbound house, so Mrs Average Dude and I decided to venture out before we could no longer venture. The selection was A Complete Unknown.
A Complete Unknown is the bio pic of a living legend
That Bob is a living legend is undeniable. Your humble Average Dude is no spring chicken, but I have no recollection of Bob Dylan in his heyday.* I’ve heard his hits, how could I not? I’m a sentient human and his music has inspired an entire generation (the one before mine, I believe). That generation spawned a subculture of Americana that lives on today in the form of the ‘green party’. Dylan and his angry-but-somehow-also-merry band of folk singers (Joan Baez, Woodie Guthrie, Pete Seeger and so on) were musical vanguards. Millions of young people looking for an emotional outlet (or perhaps a reason to emote) fed on his thought-provoking lyrics and hummable melodies. Dylan, with great talent, personal conviction and force of will, propelled himself from A Complete Unknown into a force for change. In a time before social media, that is no small feat.
A Complete Unknown is the bio pic we didn’t know we needed. Because we didn’t.
The Average Dude’s favorite song during the folk music era was the theme to Speed Racer.** Suffice to say, I was too young to dig on Dylan, the Beatles or anything that didn’t play at the beginning of a 30 minute TV show. And while there are plenty of people still around who were grooving to him, a lot of those don’t venture out to the theater. And their numbers are dwindling. My point is, A Complete Unknown has an appeal to a relatively small demographic. In a society that has an ever-shrinking attention span and an ever-growing pool of distractions, the bio pic of Bob Dylan ranks fairly low. For most, he is indeed, A Complete Unknown.
Timothee Chalamet doing Timothee Chalamet things
Unless I want to go out and interview the previous generation (who may have been baked for it anyway), I will never know if Timothee Chalamet’s portrayal of Dylan in A Complete Uknown was accurate. However, Chalamet has proven himself to be an amazing actor and I’m willing to concede that he did his homework. And whether accurate or not, Chalamet sells it. I have so much faith in his talent that I chose to go see A Complete Uknown on the power of his impressive acting credits. He may end up being the greatest actor of a generation. That’s my prediction.
Kind of like Adam Driver’s Amazon Ads
I can’t really call it an overlooked gem. I can confidently say that everyone in A Complete Unknown did an admirable, if not all that memorable job. Ed Norton, Elle Fanning, Monica Barbaro were all quality. Of special note are Boyd Holbrook, who did a fantastic job as a young Johnny Cash. Scoot McNairy did an amazing job as an infirmed Woodie Guthrie, past the use of his voice. For their part, they all performed well. But they were overshadowed by Chalamet in every scene. A Complete Unknown is the story of Bob Dylan, and none other. Had the script called for just a little bit deeper dive into some of them, A Complete Unknown would have been a more satisfying 2 hrs 20 min. As it is, we got a fairly shallow glimpse into the legend of Bob Dylan performed by a world-class talent.
So, The Average Dude is giving A Complete Unknown a middling 3.25 out of 5. I’d say wait for it to show up on streaming, but I don’t think it will appeal to the bulk of America (and barely even noticed by non-English speaking countries). A niche movie if ever there was one.
Bob Dylan himself said that he likely wouldn’t see A Complete Unknown, but Timothee Chalamet would probably portray him well. Bob clearly still has all his faculties.
*I do have a cover of Desolation Row done by My Chemical Romance on my running ipod.
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