A younger Bob Dylan could be a clumsy match for 2024.
The balladeer adopted his personal, mercurial muse. He defied typical labels, wanting to develop as an artist on his phrases.
Social media would eat him alive. So would the press.
Fortunately, he got here of age through the tumultuous ‘60s, the last decade captured within the new biopic “A Full Unknown.”
Timothee Chalamet’s elegant flip because the erstwhile Robert Zimmerman makes “A Full Unknown” an unabashed deal with. It’s particularly welcome at a time when few artists give a rattling about inventive freedom.
Based mostly on the e book, “Dylan Goes Electrical,” “Unknown” correctly zeroes in on the singer/songwriter’s rise to fame. He wasn’t conventionally good-looking and that nasally twang didn’t make him report label catnip.
He had a songwriting voice that spoke to the roiling tradition. That proved greater than sufficient.
Chalamet’s Dylan seeks out an ailing Woody Guthrie (Scoot McNairy) because the movie opens. The folks icon is within the throes of Huntington’s illness, however he’s properly sufficient to see one thing particular in Dylan. So does Guthrie’s caretaker, Pete Seeger (a outstanding Edward Norton).
The genial folkie nudged Dylan onto the world stage and by no means regarded again … till the singer’s electrical makeover, in fact.
Director James Mangold (“Stroll the Line”) indulges in some mind-numbing biopic tics. Sure, the principle gamers activate the TV in time to see Walter Cronkite announcing President John F. Kennedy useless. Different iconic occasions grace the display, eye-rolling tells beneath the proficient Mangold.
They don’t final lengthy.
We quickly watch Dylan clumsily navigate his love life. He bounces from fellow folkie Joan Baez (Monica Barbaro, beguiling) to Sylvie (Elle Fanning), his love earlier than fame got here a-calling.
Dylan is not any lothario, no less than the one seen on display. He’s extra bemused by intercourse and relationships, unaware of the ache his indifference leaves behind.
This isn’t a neat, hit-making biopic. Dylan’s rocketing profession stays on the perimeters of the story. It’s how his fame impacts his craft that issues.
A beautiful scene finds Dylan visiting a neighborhood TV present hosted by Seeger. The folks legend is bumbling by a chat with a crusty blues musician till Dylan interrupts. Music patches over the tough spots, and we’re reminded of Dylan’s cultural heft.
It’s a second that provides little to the narrative but proves important.
“A Full Unknown” performs out like a jukebox musical at instances, going all-in on Dylan’s early songbook. Chalamet’s voice is a greater than satisfactory substitute for the true deal.
The movie’s manufacturing design is flawless, with particular consideration paid to Dylan’s varied guises. The inventive group recreated traditional album covers and iconic images to finish the phantasm.
Chalamet does the remaining, disappearing into Dylan with out feeling like a caricature. He’s cool however raveled, a person comprised of sharp angles and attitudes. What made the younger Dylan tick? He saved lots of these secrets and techniques to himself.
So does the movie.
His artistry couldn’t be contained. We see him awake at evening, jotting down lyrics earlier than they evaporate like a lot cigarette smoke.
That inimitable voice didn’t get gravelly by itself.
“A Full Unknown” delivers simply sufficient biographical beats to fulfill. The remaining issues extra. Dylan went electrical as a result of he needed to … interval.
That shift weighs closely on the movie and the music scene on the time. It lets key figures reveal themselves in unflattering methods. By all of it stood Dylan, chasing his artwork with out letting anybody stand in his means.
HiT or Miss: “A Full Unknown” lives as much as its title, bringing the inscrutable folks hero to life with out placing him into any tidy field.