A Complete Unknown: The best thing I've watched this year so far
As a matter of fact, Bob Dylan was completely unknown to me before this
Go and re-read the subtitle ^
Well, almost completely because I had heard of Bob Dylan’s name for sure.
Hi!
In case it’s your first time here, I’m Penaaz and I write about movies, creators, shows, and brands here.
(But it’s quite opinionated and tied to my personal experience and personality vs. an objective review).
Last weekend was one of the most magical ones I’ve had in a long time! I went to watch A Complete Unknown in a (really good) movie theatre.
A lot of background scores are playing in my head as I write this 🥺
Let’s start with the basics out of the way!
Movie Preview
Essentially, portraying a significant period of Bob Dylan’s life as an artist and the world of folk music.
The Cast
Timothée Chalamet (as Bob Dylan)
Elle Fanning (as Sylvie - Suze Rotolo)
Monica Barbaro (as Joan Baez)
Edward Norton as (Pete Seeger)
Boyd Holbrook (as Albert Grossman)
Dan Fogler (as Dave Van Ronk)
Directed by James Mangold
Edited by Andrew Buckland and Scott Morris.
The Plot
Contrary to what most people think, this movie is not the whole life story biopic of Bob Dylan. It’s about 4 (formative and life-changing) years of his life from 1961 to 1965.
There’s a reason it’s set in this time period — you should ideally get more context by watching the film.
Vibes
Retro-themed, (relatively) slow-paced and comforting.
It’s one of those films where you’re back in time (even if you didn’t exist back then) and in a way, the details make you appreciate and admire our roots, and how far we’ve come as a species.
(I know I went off-track but couldn’t help it)
WARNING - Spoilers ahead ⚠️
As someone who cares about you and your watch experience, I would encourage you to go and watch this movie before you read any further.
It will absolutely be worth your time whether or not you’re a Bob Dylan fan, into music or relate to the artists of that time.
If you’re nothing like me and HAVE to watch something before you watch a movie, let it be this instead:
Nothing more.
Not even the official trailer coz they give away way too much. Trust this from someone who has watched the film. Save it for after. You’ll not regret it, I promise.
I have watched it at least 4-5 times recently and it still makes me feel wonderful. And I’m so glad I never watched it before the movie.
Music
Brace yourself because what I’m about to say — I didn’t know this before I actually watched the movie (and was still unsure until I looked it up to get my facts straight)
This movie obviously has a whole of music, songs and songwriting — it’s literally based on the life of a legendary musician.
But you know what?
Timothée actually sings all the songs he plays in the movie!
And wait, it does NOT end there.
He doesn’t just sing the vocals—he also plays the instruments! Be it the guitars, the mouth organs or anything else he plays around with while playing music.
Highlights
10 scenes that stood out to me
“People make up their past, Sylvie!”
Other than really incredible dialogue writing, there was something deeply comfortable and uncomfortable about the way this scene was shot.
The walks with Sylvie
There was something about the walks around town, the conversations, the lines, and how soothing it felt.
3. Every time Bob was writing
Call me biased as a writer but seeing him draw inspiration and write at “inappropriate” places and random times of the day — on paper napkins, in the middle of the night, or just about any time, loved it!
Reading the Johnny Cash letter
Oh my God. I was so pleasantly surprised to see this, so early on in the film. There’s something uniquely special about idols becoming fellow professionals in your journey.
The It Ain’t Me, Babe performance
Hands down one of the highest moments of the movie! The chemistry, the lyrics, the music, the song, the shadow of grief in the background, and how it was filmed—everything about it seemed perfect.
The party + elevator + sidewalk scene
Right from entering the party to exiting it (and beyond), I didn’t even wanna blink. His behaviour, the discomfort you could feel through the screen, how well-shot the sequences were, and the lines! 🤌🏻
Bob out and about at night/ in the streets
Was it the look of the cities? The vintage cars? The music? The damn good lighting? I guess I don’t want to know as long as I’m lovin’ it.
The ferry scene
You know those moments where you feel a pain in your throat when you come across a specific, strong human emotion you have lived before? It was that.
The tour incident
The tension in the twist of this scene was palpable. Too good!
All 👏 The 👏 Comebacks 👏
‘nuff said.
Side note: I revisited so many scenes for these stills and watching any scene or clip is INSTANTLY lifting my spirits 🥺
Risky confession: didn’t even know Bob is still around. So, I had no clue what could happen!
The Penaaz part of Penaaz Thinks
Okay, so here’s the bit you can’t possibly found in any other review! The BTS (behind-the-scenes) of me trying to + watching this movie.
As I touched upon before, I had no clue about this movie for the longest time.
Here’s what I knew about the movie:
Timothée won the SAG award for it
It’s a Bob Dylan biopic.
Here’s what I didn’t know:
The star cast other than Timothée
Bob Dylan’s music
Meaning of the title
The plot
What to expect.
It wasn’t until his viral award-winning speech, that I found out about it.
I remember looking up the speech on YouTube while I was on a walk and tweeting this:
Storytime
I later checked BookMyShow and saw crazy good ratings for A Complete Unknown!
For some reason it wasn’t the best time for me to plan a movie outing, so I let it be.
The next time, I planned to watch a different movie (A Real Pain) coz it was relatively shorter and that’s the kind of time I had on that specific weekend. Sadly, I missed my show coz my previous plan got extended :/
But nvm coz there’s always another weekend, isn’t there?
Eventually, A Real Pain was out of theatres, but A Complete Unknown still had some shows running.
However, my plan kept getting pushed and cancelled time and time again.
FINALLY, weeks later there was a Sunday show at a perfect show time, and I was so relieved.
(I’m skipping the parts where I watched some silly movies, not pre-planned, and was genuinely craving a good movie experience!)
As usual, I went to the website on Saturday night but found it was fully SOLD OUT.
NGL, I had a mini breakdown at the time.
But!
Minutes later I randomly found 2 seats and I was over the moon!!!
phew. Finally, the bad phase ended.
I think the rest of the write-up does a pretty good job at letting you know how MUCH I enjoyed my time watching and cherishing this film.
…and trust me when I say I’ve watched a lot of good stuff this year already.
I have tried writing this before my opinions and takes get coloured by all the interviews and BTS; which btw I’m in two minds about watching.
As much as I love knowing how things are made and what goes into it— I’m scared of losing my experience.
I guess we’ll find out what I end up doing sooner or later.
Even until I watched the whole thing I wasn’t sure if the music and vocals are actually by the actors.
Of course, I went into a loop of researching and looking facts up right after and to my absolute delight I discovered Timothée spent months and years training in music for this role!
No wonder he got nominated for an Oscar.
This was my first ever Timothée movie and (if it’s still not evident) it’s safe to say I’ve become a huge fan.
His speech, his award, the reviews, ratings, high praise — everything makes a ton of sense and is super well-earned.
Deeper takeaways
I always feel actors (and even artists in general) aren’t given enough credit for what they offer to the society.
Let me tell you some top of my head things about the kind of impact a movie like this can have:
A whole new generation got introduced to a living legend - Bob Dylan.
Artists specifically got to learn more about a fellow artists early years from being a beginner to making it.
Writers have a TON to be inspired by (you’ll get this better once you watch the film. cue: literature)
People get to witness the vulnerable, delicate, and nuanced sides of being a celebrity with a fanbase. Essentially, the behind-the-scenes of a glamorous and successful life.
The importance of being rebellious and the worth of taking risks, especially when the stakes are high.
The value of having people who believe in you no matter what you’re up to.
The cost and reward of being great at your craft.
The grey and dark areas of stardom and fandom.
I have SO many more such thoughts about this he subtleties of his acting, body language, speech, physical attributes, costume design, and even the music itself.
The feeling I had while leaving the theatre—one of the best I’ve had in a long time.
All the actors did justice to their characters given how believable, moving, and breathtaking the performances felt.
New-found respect for all of them who were evidently stepped out of their comfort zones to fill in such large shoes.
I’m so grateful to be living in the era of such beautiful stories told by people who genuinely care about them.
This also goes to the makers and the crew at large… we know it takes a village for the end result to be as good as this one’s was.
I can’t wait to dive into more BTS clips and interview now that I have put my heart out here, writing this review.
Speaking of, here’s some other official and audience reviews.
If you already have or plan to watch this movie, I’d LOVE to nerd out on the details and why’s and how’s.
Author’s note: While trying to complete this newsletter I had mixed feelings and all I could think about was this one line from this very movie - “It’s gotta be good for somebody.”
Please feel free to share your feedback on this newsletter :)
(Find me here if you don’t wanna comment)
Thank you for reading!