A Complete Unknown

A few weeks ago, some friends and I caught the movie, A Complete Unknown, a film about Bob Dylan and his rise to fame between 1961 and 1965. It’s taken me a while to gather my thoughts about this movie because it moved me in many ways.

The film is directed by James Mangold, who co-wrote the screenplay with Jay Cocks, about American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. Based on the 2015 book Dylan Goes Electric! by Elijah Wald, the film portrays Dylan through his earliest folk music success until the momentous controversy over his use of electric instruments at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival where he was booed off the stage.

The film’s title is derived from the chorus of Dylan’s 1965 single Like a Rolling Stone. He left the 1965 Newport Folk Festival stage after a two-song encore of Mr. Tambourine Man and It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue. Thirty-seven years later, Dylan appeared back at the Newport Folk Festival where he gave a 2-hour performance, sporting a wig and a beard. Yes, I was there and would never have missed it.

As early as 1963, when I was 11 years old, I found myself drawn to Dylan’s music and poetic lyrics as well as his enigmatic persona. There was a part of me that was excited to see this film, although there are over 30 movies, documentaries and recorded concerts of and dedicated to Dylan: I’m Not There (2007) in which 6 different actors are morphed into interpreted characters of Dylan; Martin Scorsese’s, documentaries, Rolling Thunder Review (2019) and No Direction Home (2005); Bob Dylan Speaks (1965) to name a few. Yes, I’ve seen all of them.

And there was another part of me who cynically questioned how another film about Dylan, with this very young lead actor, could accurately capture the soul of the ‘60s.

The movie stars Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan, Edward Norton as a remarkably convincing Pete Seeger and Elle Fanning as Dylan’s on-again/off-again girlfriend, Sylvie Russo. I had assumed Monica Barbaro, in the role of Joan Baez (wonderful vocals), would have played a more prominent role in this Dylan film. Outside of the famous Blowing in the Wind, duo, Joan Baez appears as a reluctant lover and a little more than a footnote in this movie – not what I expected from the years of media frenzy around the Dylan/Baez relationship.

FULL DISCLOSURE: I’m utterly infatuated with actor Timothée Chalamet! There, I said it. Not only is he unusually beautiful (yes, that’s the word I want to use) he’s extremely talented. As an actor, Chalamet never plays the same type of character twice, he’s a chameleon on screen, exciting to watch. From Call Me by Your Name; The King; Beautiful Boy; Dune 1 & 2; Wonka and now, A Complete Unknown (which he also produced), Chalamet’s characters are not only convincing but are steeped in dimension. I must admit I’m captivated by him – every time.

Chalamet is much better looking than Dylan, there is no doubt. And he’s mastered the instruments required for this role. Plus, the voice we hear in this movie belongs to Timothée.

Chalamet has perfected the tousled-haired-drooping-eyes-slightly-stooped-posture as well as that detached gaze that makes you wonder where Dylan is. Sometimes deep in thought. Sometimes someplace else. But always profoundly present to his work.

Having met Dylan for an evening, back in the late ‘60s, I was astounded that an actor as young as Chalamet, who never experienced the ‘60s, could so eloquently portray every nuance of Dylan’s persona. It was stunning.

From the many documentaries about Bob Dylan, it is no mystery as to the different influences of music that inspired him. What was emphasized in this film was the heart-rending relationship between Dylan and Woody Guthrie portrayed by Scoot McNairy. It revealed the similarities between both musicians that bind the continuity of this story.

McNairy’s character does not share very much screen-time in this film, but his performance as Guthrie galvanizes the heart of this narrative. McNairy is not the strumming/singing Guthrie we knew and loved but the Guthrie of Greystone Psychiatric Hospital, in Morris Plains, NJ, during the last year of his convalescence. He is unable to speak and has restricted mobility.

It was Robert Zimmerman from Minnesota, who travels to Greystone to visit his music idol unannounced. Pete Seeger, lifelong friend of Guthrie, happens to be at Greystone visiting Guthrie when Zimmerman arrives. When asked why he has come, Zimmerman admits that he just wants to play a song he wrote in tribute to Guthrie. Seeger and Guthrie invite him to make good on that in the hospital room. When he finishes, Guthrie motions approval, Seeger is convinced of Zimmerman’s talent and from that day, with the help of Seeger, Zimmerman moves to New York and Bob Dylan is born.

SECOND DISCLOSURE: I am a diehard enthusiast of folk music. It was my life-line during my high school years and those who performed and/or wrote in this genre were heroes to me. I have always considered Guthrie and Dylan as troubadours of American culture. Also, Leonard Cohen, Pete Seeger, Joan Baez, Richie Havens, Peter, Paul & Mary and others.

These troubadours voiced patriotic lyrics and songs of struggle, songs of resistance and protest. Lyrics that helped inspire and develop social consciousness. Much of the early music was not commercially acceptable to many record producers. These troubadours offered their audiences a radical proposal to take accountability for creating the kind of America they wanted to live in. Dylan claimed that his music was never of a political nature. Nor did he have or want political affiliations. Considering the impact his songs had on my generation, I have always found that to be an interesting footnote.

After this very long, personal summary of A Complete Unknown, and after much thought, what is most evident to me is that the 1960s were one of the most tumultuous and divisive decades in world history heaped in the music of artists who had relevant and meaningful to say.

The era was marked by the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War and antiwar protests, countercultural movements, political assassinations and the emerging “generation gap.” As a result, some of the best music, most prolific music composers/lyricists and music that has stood the test of time were born in that decade. It was music about change. But there was a hopefulness and a desire for community in a generation compelled to take action. Although those actions might be dangerous there was an undeniable optimism that change could happen.

We took to the streets. We demonstrated, we wrote to Congress over and over again, we stormed university and college buildings, had sit-ins for weeks on end and sang these songs. We did this not by a few hundred, but by thousands and thousands. We were the “flower children” generation. We believed that what this country stood for was important. A country “of, by and for” the people that was worth fighting for. It gladdens me to know that I was a part of that generation – and for baby boomers that era has left an indelible mark on our lives.

On the other hand, the movie also troubles me. Because I believe that historians will more than likely call THIS decade one of the most tumultuous and divisive decades in world history – but for very different reasons.

Today, there’s overwhelming apathy, more hate, more crime, blatant acts of disrespect for the institutions that have held this country together for almost two and a half centuries.

There is this flagrant entitlement to deny facts, truth, science, medicine and more and I am not sure we will ever find our way back.

It makes me think of one of my daughter’s favorite books, The NeverEnding Story, and we, as a country, have been overtaken by “Nothing.”

What is the “Nothing” in The NeverEnding Story? “Nothing” is the lack of imagination. And reluctance to read books. In this case, “Nothing” is denialism of the truth and accountability.

I fear the future because I don’t see us saving ourselves from what we, ourselves, have created over the past five decades. “Nothing” doesn’t rush in. It is unhurried, deliberate and undetected, until it is too late.

I thoroughly enjoyed A Complete Unknown because it made me remember the hope and the greatest music of my generation. But ever since I left the theater, one question has been hanging over my head like an anvil.

Who and where are the troubadours today?