A Complete Unknown (the title derived from the chorus of Bob Dylan's 1965 single, Like a Rolling Stone) portrays Bob Dylan's early career from 1961 his through his earliest folk music success until the his controversial use of electronic instruments at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965. Timothée Chalamet stars as Dylan, with Edward Norton as Pete Seeger, Monica Barbara as Joan Baez, and Elle Fanning as Sylvie Russo, a renamed version of Dylan's girlfriend during that time.
Although the film covers only a few years (1961-1965), it is an eventful journey through that magical time. It starts with Dylan's arrival in New York City in 1961 seeking to meet his idol, the hospitalized Woody Guthrie. He sings for Guthrie and Pete Seeger, impressing them, and leading to his introduction to the New York folk-music scene, from which he quickly rises to performing and recording stardom. Along the way he moves in with Sylvie, whom he met at a concert, and also begins an artistic collaboration (and an affair) with Joan Baez.
Dylan's talent brings him fame and stardom, but also adds stress to his life and his relationships with Sylvie, with Joan Baez, and with the folk music community. He chafes at being beholden both to the recording industry and to the folk music community, and he throws an unedifying on-stage tantrum while supposed to be performing with Joan Baez. He increasingly experiments with electronic guitar and rock instruments, which alienates the 1965 Newport Folk Festival planning committee and ultimately the festival audience. Alienated from the folk music community, if now liberated artistically, Dylan pays one last visit to the hospitalized Guthrie.
The film is, as I said above, a tour back into a magical time. Of course, the reality of life in the sixties was less magical than we aging boomers may choose to remember, but the film and, above all, the music bring us back to when we were young and when - for all its threats and problems - the world seemed so full of promise.
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