Yea, you know him now - Bob Dylan. But in 1961, Robert (Bobby) Zimmerman arrived in New York City ready to make his mark on the folk scene.
In the film, A Complete Unknown, Timothee Chamalet brings Bob Dylan onto the big screen and tells his story. Here's this kid who seeks out the "biggies" - Pete Seeger (an excellent Edward Norton), Joan Baez (Monica Barbaro), Johnny Cash (Boyd Holbrook) - and proceeds to wow them with his songwriting skills.
He knows his history, is musically talented, and leaps from unknown to girls screaming in a few short years. He's playing small gigs and then moves up to the bigger venues, including the Newport Folk Festival. That's huge. But there's tradition in folk and Dylan is squirming under the invoked "rules" pressure.
I'm not "blowing in the wind here"...when he takes the Newport stage in 1965, and plugs in his guitar along with his band...well the "times are truly changing".
This movie is fun, entertaining, informative, and musically wonderful. I personally admire Dylan songs, but was never keen on the man and his voice. Timothee Chalamet did a super job and I appreciated the Dylan story and history that much more. Thumbs up to start movie review 2025.
