A Complete Unknown
“This land is your land, this land is my land.”
Tonight I slipped into the theater about two months over due to catch “A complete Unknown” before the Oscars. A solo night time movie viewing at Lincoln center AMC will be a core memory of my late 20’s in New York and tonight’s viewing was nothing life changing but enjoyable none the less. I know very little about Bob Dylan so I was excited to be whisked away.
I thought the film was a visually beautiful period piece and Timothée Chalamet was off the charts as Dylan. Bio pics normally always have the same exact format and this film did a great job of being very unique to itself in terms of plot and subject.
The opening section was dreamy and heart felt full of Americana and smiles as Pete Seeger, played by Edward Norton, welcomes Dylan into his life when he hitch hikes to New York and shows up at his hero Woody Guthrie’s hospital room. Edward Norton’s positive portrayal and syncopated rhythm romantically coxed me into the plot from the jump.
Elle Fanning as Sylvie was just as delightful. She played a beatnik student with a renaissance personality and was completely charming as she further shepherded Dylan into New York City. Her love and encouragement to Dylan was fuel on my nostalgia fire and it created a great effect when the two struggled back and forth in the later parts of the plot. I particularly enjoyed the romantic motif of the double lit and shared cigarette’s that serve as the couples entrance and exit into one another’s life.
Chalamet as Bob Dylan was all you could ask for in the role. He had all the bells and whistles of a musician bio pic but most of all he was so fully present in the character. Throughout the film I saw Chalamet responding to every stimulus given to him with a unique and honest response way that gave me a paint by the numbers of who Dylan was and what he felt. I have always grumbled that Actors win Oscars for Bio Pics but I also get it. The side of being “fully in” the character is so subjective whereas things like the difficulty of taking on dialects, instruments, and singing are so definable. They fit in the perfect little boxes that help people when putting two subjective performances next to each other. Chalamet nailed both sides as Dylan and I think he definitely is deserving of his Oscar nomination. The film as a whole was strengthened by it’s knock out performances.
The ending is strong in that it subverts the classic bio pic finale trope and forgoes the happy ending. After choosing not to be boxed in by the industry and playing a rock based set at Seeger’s folk festival, Dylan leaves without amends and we are left with mostly loose ends and questions. Dylan stands up for his artistic voice and is vindicated in the credits when we learn his next album was one of the best-selling in history. From a film making perspective this is a powerful and exciting ending. I enjoy that the film pulls no punches and is honest in its telling. I like that it leaves us so unsatisfied and lets us feel Dylan’s angst instead of the success that follows. I think it’s bold storytelling that has a lot to say about being an artist and making art that matters.
My takeaway:
While I thought the ending was powerful it also poked at a sleeping bear within me which is:
Most movies of “Successful” men from real life include copious amounts of infidelity and harmful behavior to loved ones.
There was no exception in this film and it’s honest portrayal of Dylan left me disheartened on a personal level. Like many of the “successful” men before him, he chased his dreams at the expense of hurting others and, from my perspective, blamed his hurtful behavior on his “search for truth.”
I don’t mean to be judgmental of Dylan or sit on my high horse but as a trend this makes me sad. This is not the behavior I aspire to and I worry about what it says about success and fame. Dylan himself says to Cash within the plot “ I am now famous—famous by the rules of public famiosity. It snuck up on me and pulverized me.”
In my life I would not like to be that man even at the cost of success. That I have decided. But does that mean I can’t be “Successful” like in the movies?
This brings me to my hero of the film. Pete Seeger. The man who welcomes Dylan into his home. The man who has a loving family in the midst of his artistic work. The man who is humble and meek and serving of others and interested in the joy of his craft. The man who joys in Dylan surpassing him and the ears it brings to the work he loves. The man who try’s to bring peace between all parties. The man who in his darkest moment allows the voice of a loved one to correct him.
This is the man I want to be. Bob Dylan’s name is known around the world. Pete Seeger’s not so much. He never enjoyed the fame, fortune, or recognition Dylan did. So maybe the good guys don’t win and maybe the movies are right. But maybe the family, the friends, and the craft are the real treasure. Maybe we just need to look through a different frame.
That’s what I love about movies. The same story can be told through the unique eyes of all different kinds of story tellers. All you have to do is change the frame.