A Complete Unknown

Release Date: December 25, 2024

Watch Date: May 4, 2025

“It is 1961 in New York. Against the backdrop of a vibrant music scene and tumultuous cultural upheaval, an unknown nineteen-year-old named Bob Dylan (Timothee Chalamet) from Minnesota arrives in Greenwich Village with his guitar and revolutionary talent, destined to change the course of American music. As he forms his most intimate relationships during his rise to fame, he grows restless with the folk movement and, refusing to be defined, makes a controversial choice that culturally reverberates worldwide.”

I had been really looking forward to watching this movie. I saw exactly one ad for it, I don’t have cable TV or spend a lot of time on YouTube or whatever so my ability to see ads is greatly reduced, but I was hooked from the word go. I think Chalamet is an amazing actor, I’ve loved every role I’ve ever seen him in – except maybe Dune which I have not seen and will never see, sorry. Hes up there with that guy who played Spider-Man the second time for me. I also think Bob Dylan is an amazing musician. I’m a more folk song Dylan fan, but I can get into his different eras still.

Now would I have preferred a Neil Young film, of course I would have. I’m Canadian, he’s a legend, and he’s my father’s favorite artist. But we get what we get, and we don’t get upset, as my daughter likes to say.

Obviously historical liberties were taken to tell a specific story. This is not a fully accurate depiction of Dylan’s early years and his transition away from the folk genre. Nor is it trying to be. What it’s trying to be is an accurate portrait of dealing with early fame and the incredibly complicated human being at the centre of it all. And I think it does a fantastic job of that.

By the end of you’re not really sure how you feel about Dylan or the legacy he left behind in folk music and amongst the others in the industry. It’s a master class in separating the art from the artist. It’s also a wonderful portrayal of a person wanting to break free of expectations. Wanting to simply create the things that excite them and make them happy and refusing to be stuck inside the box society tells them they must remain in.

It has the added bonus of maybe introducing a new generation of people to Dylan’s music, which if it had just done that I would have considered a win.

Now, just like this movie, I will ride off into the sunset without really providing any sort of conclusion.