certainly lives up to its title. You are hardly closer to understanding the soul of after watching more than two hours of this moody look at AmericaB次元官网网址檚 most enigmatic troubadour. But thatB次元官网网址檚 not the point of biopic: ItB次元官网网址檚 not who Dylan is but what he does to us.
Mangold B次元官网网址� who directed and co-wrote the screenplay with Jay Cocks B次元官网网址� doesnB次元官网网址檛 do a traditional cradle-to-the-near-grave treatment. He concentrates on the few crucial years between when Dylan arrived in New York in 1961 and when he blew the doors off the Newport Folk Festival in 1965 by adding a Fender Stratocaster.
That means we never learn anything about Dylan before he arrives in ManhattanB次元官网网址檚 Greenwich Village with a guitar, a wool-lined bomber jacket, a fishermanB次元官网网址檚 cap and ambition. And Dylan being Dylan, we just get scraps after that.
The world spins around him, Women fall in love with him, musicians seek his orbit, fans demand his autograph, record executives fight over his signature. The melds into the and the What does Dylan make of all this? The answer is blowing in the wind.
Any sane actor would run away from this assignment. Not , and B次元官网网址淎 Complete UnknownB次元官网网址� is his most ambitious work to date, asking him not only to play insecure-within-a-sneer but also to play and sing 40 songs in DylanB次元官网网址檚 unmistakable growl, complete with blustery harmonica. Daniel Craig has been called brave for his role this awards season in Try playing B次元官网网址淪ubterranean Homesick BluesB次元官网网址� in front of a crowd.
The last big non-documentary attempt to understand Dylan was Todd HaynesB次元官网网址� which split the assignment among seven actors. Chalamet does it all, moving from callow, fresh-faced songsmith to arrogant, selfish New Yorker to jaded, staggering pop star to Angry Young Man. There are moments when Chalamet tilts his head down and looks at the world slyly, like Princess Diana. There are others when the resemblance is uncanny, but also moments when it is a tad forced. You cannot deny heB次元官网网址檚 got the essence of Dylan down, though.
The movieB次元官网网址檚 title is pulled from DylanB次元官网网址檚 lyrics for B次元官网网址淟ike a Rolling StoneB次元官网网址� and itB次元官网网址檚 adapted from Elijah WaldB次元官网网址檚 book B次元官网网址淒ylan Goes Electric! Newport, Seeger, Dylan, and the Night That Split the Sixties.B次元官网网址� Dylan isnB次元官网网址檛 a producer but did consult on the script.
ItB次元官网网址檚 not the most glowing profile, though the sheer brilliance of the songs B次元官网网址� so many the movie might be deemed a musical B次元官网网址� show DylanB次元官网网址檚 undeniable genius. ChalametB次元官网网址檚 Dylan is unfaithful, jealous and puckish. The movie suggests that adding electric guitar at Newport in B次元官网网址�65 was less a brave stand for musicB次元官网网址檚 evolution than a middle finger to anyone who dared put him in a box.
In some ways, B次元官网网址淎 Complete UnknownB次元官网网址� uses some of the DNA from B次元官网网址淚B次元官网网址檓 Not There.B次元官网网址� The best clues to whatB次元官网网址檚 going on behind DylanB次元官网网址檚 shades are the refracted light from others, like Joan Baez, Johnny Cash, Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger and a girlfriend called Sylvie Russo, based on DylanB次元官网网址檚 ex Suze Rotolo, who is pictured on 1963B次元官网网址檚 album cover for B次元官网网址淭he FreewheelinB次元官网网址� Bob Dylan.B次元官网网址�
is a hangdog Seeger hoping to harness Dylan for the goodness of folk, astonished by his talent. Monica Barbaro is a revelation as Baez, DylanB次元官网网址檚 on-again-off-again paramour. Boyd Holbrook is a sharklike, disrupting Cash, with the movieB次元官网网址檚 best line: B次元官网网址淢ake some noise, B.D. Track some mud on the carpet.B次元官网网址� And Elle Fanning is captivating as Russo, the sweetheart sucked into this crazy rock drama.
ItB次元官网网址檚 Baez and Russo who dig the deepest into trying to find out who Dylan is. They donB次元官网网址檛 buy his stories about learning from the carnival and call him on his facade-building. B次元官网网址淚 donB次元官网网址檛 know you,B次元官网网址� Russo says, calling him a B次元官网网址渕ysterious minstrelB次元官网网址� and urging him to B次元官网网址淪top hiding.B次元官网网址� Too late, sister.
There are some lovely moments, especially the morning after Baez spends the night and she wakes to him working on B次元官网网址淏lowinB次元官网网址� in the Wind.B次元官网网址� They spar a bit (he calls her songs B次元官网网址渙il paintings at a dentist office,B次元官网网址� and she calls him worse than a jerk) but they come together on the side of his bed in their underwear, he fumbling through what will be one of the greatest protest songs in history, and she supplying delicate harmony.
Mangold B次元官网网址� who directed the Cash biopic B次元官网网址淲alk the LineB次元官网网址� B次元官网网址� is always good with music and clearly loves being in this world. ThereB次元官网网址檚 one scene that initially puzzles B次元官网网址� Dylan stops on the street to buy a toy whistle B次元官网网址� and you wonder why the director has wasted our time. Then we see Dylan pull it out at the top of the recording of B次元官网网址淗ighway 61 RevisitedB次元官网网址� and suddenly it answers all those years of wondering what that crazy sound was.
There are points to quibble B次元官网网址� Dylan never faced a shout of B次元官网网址淛udas!B次元官网网址� from an enraged folkie at Newport; that came a year later in Manchester B次元官网网址� but B次元官网网址淎 Complete UnknownB次元官网网址� is utterly fascinating, capturing a moment in time when songs had weight, when they could move the culture B次元官网网址� even if the singer who made them was as puzzling as a rolling stone.
B次元官网网址淎 Complete Unknown,B次元官网网址� a Searchlight Pictures release in theaters Friday, is rated R for B次元官网网址渓anguage.B次元官网网址� Running time: 141 minutes. Three and a half stars out of four.
