We Caught ‘A Complete Unknown’ Early — And It's a Folk Revival in Cinematic Form
By Natalie McCarty
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I’m going to be honest—A Complete Unknown wasn’t just one of my most anticipated films of the year—it was one of my most anticipated films ever.
Last night, I had the incredible opportunity to attend its advanced IMAX screening at the legendary TCL Chinese Theatre, which just so happens to be the same iconic venue where I met Timothée Chalamet and Kid Cudi about a year ago for Wonka. But within moments of the film starting, the theater itself faded away. No longer seated in one of the most celebrated cinemas in the world, I was transported into a living, breathing folk ballad: restless, poetic, and heartbreakingly human.
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Director James Mangold delivers a film that transcends the confines of a typical biopic. A Complete Unknown isn’t just about Bob Dylan: it’s a richly textured exploration of art, identity, and reinvention.
Of course, I am a huge Bob Dylan fan, perhaps even one of the biggest. I knew I would love the film for what it is: a love letter to Bobby. However, what I did not necessarily expect was the storyline of not just his, but the women in his life too that resonated so deeply, pulling me back to my own days writing songs in New York, navigating tangled situationships, and reflecting on the complexities of ambition. Dylan’s search for meaning, purpose, and truth felt personal—uncomfortably so at times.
But this isn’t just Timothée Chalamet’s movie (though his performance is career-defining). The film’s power comes from its entire ensemble. Scott McNairy’s haunting portrayal of Woody Guthrie radiates poetic sadness. Monica Barbaro brings fierce grace and vulnerability as Joan Baez, embodying both artistic conviction and unshakable heartache. Boyd Holbrook’s take on Johnny Cash is grounded, charming, and effortlessly magnetic. And Edward Norton as Pete Seeger, in his earnestness, frustration, and torn between tradition and rebellion, gives one of the most moving performances in the film.
Together, they form a patchwork of stories—interconnected, fleeting, and unforgettable—just like the folk songs that defined a generation and continue to inspire the next.
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A Vision in Motion: Cinematography & Editing
Phedon Papamichael’s cinematography captures the grit and magic of the ’60s folk scene with vivid intensity. The film feels soaked in smoke and amber, lit by dim bar lights and flickering stage spotlights that seem to radiate possibility and heartbreak in equal measure. Papamichael’s lens sweeps across snow-covered highways, claustrophobic recording studios, and the packed rooms of New York’s Gaslight Cafe with the intimacy of a whispered secret.
The visual storytelling feels both nostalgic and immediate. The camera lingers on faces—Dylan’s guarded expression, Joan Baez’s sorrowful gaze, Pete Seeger’s furrowed brow—transforming moments of quiet reflection into powerful emotional beats.
You feel every note, every betrayal, every victory through his lens.
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Editor Michael McCusker stitches together Dylan’s ever-shifting world with a rhythm that mirrors the artist’s unpredictable trajectory and sudden rise to fame. The film flows like one of Dylan’s ballads: lyrical and nonlinear. There’s a restless urgency to the editing that mirrors Dylan’s own refusal to be defined. The film knows when to dwell in intimacy and when to rush headlong into the unknown.
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Storytelling as Myth-Making
Mangold’s script goes far beyond a traditional rise-and-fall biopic structure. A Complete Unknown captures the idea that Dylan wasn’t just a musician but rather a cultural myth in the making. Admittedly, the film blurs fact and fiction, but I appreciated the approach as a sort of leaning into Dylan’s penchant for reinvention. This film is an ode to artistic freedom and the cost of staying true to yourself when the world demands you fit into its expectations.
Through his relationships, his music, and his relentless need to create, the script doesn’t explain Dylan, it explores him.
Timothée Chalamet: One with the Music
And then there’s Timothée Chalamet. His portrayal of Dylan isn’t an impersonation—it’s a full-body transformation. He captures Dylan’s restless spirit, quiet intensity, and defiant charm with uncanny precision. His voice feels lived-in and real, adding another level to the film.
As long-time-friend of Chalamet and fellow co-star, Elle Fanning, said Chalamet “doesn't give a performance as ‘a caricature of Bob Dylan.’” Watching him perform “The Times They Are A-Changin’” felt like witnessing something historic, even though it was simply a retelling on screen.
But what makes Chalamet’s performance truly remarkable is its restraint. He doesn’t try to “decode” Dylan or offer definitive answers about who he was (or is). Instead, he leans into the contradictions, letting Dylan remain elusive and unknowable, much like his music.
The Ensemble That Makes It So Much More
While Chalamet anchors the film, the ensemble is what makes A Complete Unknown unforgettable.
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Monica Barbaro’s Joan Baez is fiery, tender, and heartbreakingly vulnerable. She’s not just “the woman behind the man”—she’s an artist in her own right, grappling with love, betrayal, and the often cruel realities of fame. Her duets with Chalamet crackle with emotional electricity, both on stage and off. She really does so much with the character that doesn’t have much screen time.
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Scott McNairy’s Woody Guthrie is a poetic ghost haunting the edges of the film, a symbol of a folk tradition that Dylan both revered and rejected. His performance is quiet but devastating, embodying the fragility of a legend whose time was running out. I’d argue that the inclusion of Guthrie’s character is what really manages to humanize and ground Dylan throughout the film.
Boyd Holbrook’s Johnny Cash is a breath of fresh air—a warm, sincere counterpoint to Dylan’s guarded intensity. His easy charm and effortless likability make every scene he’s in feel alive and grounded. I think this performance turns over a new page in Holbrook’s career.
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Elle Fanning’s Sylvia Russo—a fictionalized amalgam of Dylan’s muses—is a revelation. Fanning plays her with quiet intensity, making her struggles with identity and self-worth painfully relatable. She’s the film’s emotional anchor, grounding Dylan’s myth in very real human cost. Terribly relatable as well.
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And Edward Norton’s Pete Seeger is perhaps the film’s emotional core. Torn between preserving folk’s traditions and embracing Dylan’s rebellious reinvention, Norton’s Seeger is earnest, conflicted, and deeply human. His scenes sparkle.
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Tangled Up in Blue
Ultimately, A Complete Unknown isn’t just a film about Bob Dylan—it’s a film about the transformative power of music, art, and storytelling. The film makes you feel like you’ve lived inside one of Dylan’s songs—a tangled, beautiful, messy ballad about love, loss, ambition, and everything in between. It’s about how we invent ourselves, fall apart, and start over again—always chasing something just out of reach. It captures the beautiful mess of living, loving, and creating in a world that constantly demands definition.
It’s a folk revival in cinematic form.
I also find that it’s worth noting that critiques of Dylan’s character in the film aren’t really about the film itself, or Chalamet’s performance, but rather the man behind it. Dylan is, after all, just… Bob Dylan. But Mangold leans into this contradiction, acknowledging Dylan’s complex, often frustrating persona without attempting to soften or explain it away.
In a time when so many films feel disposable, A Complete Unknown is a cinematic biopic masterpiece destined to endure.
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A Complete Unknown is in theaters Christmas Day.
