I had almost given up hope that Like a Complete Unknown would still knock me around in the cinema. Too often I have read in the past few weeks that the new Bob Dylan film Boring form of the musician biopics represent and only dutifully dealt with a legend in life. Even the James Mangold enthusiast in my heart faded in the past few weeks.
When I went to Like a Complete Unknown press demonstration at the Berlinale last night, my feelings were very mixed. Suddenly the film felt like a compulsory exercise, which also came up with excess length. Especially in a world in which an unbelievable masterpiece such as my not there is, it really does not need uninspired dylan revue with Hollywood Prestige Gestus.
But then suddenly I was a fire and flame for the film.
James Mangold’s Bob Dylan film circulates a large weakness of many other musician biopics
Like a Complete Unknown started in the cold, gray streets of New York in 1961. The young Bob Dylan (Timothée Chalamet) came to the big city to visit his idol Woody Guthrie (Scoot McNairy) in the hospital. However, it is on the other side of the Hudson in New Jersey, so that Dylan turns again before he arrives where he actually wants to go.
Here you can watch the trailer for Like a Complete Unkown:
The first magical moment of the film unfolds in the hopeless rooms of the hospital: Dylan plays his first song on the guitar in the presence of Guthrie and folk icon Pete Seeger (Edward Norton) and captivates the two. I too could get from the simple pictures in the dim light Do not solve, so vulnerable, precious and raw, every single second.
Suddenly she was gone, the fear of the well-produced Bob Dylan film, which once sneaked us through the musician’s career without capturing anything from the essence of his main character. With Dylan, this is a tricky thing with the essence anyway, since the artist’s persona consists above all that it is so difficult to grip. That was also one of the great strengths of my not there.
The Biopic in 2007 staged by Todd Haynes approaches Dylan in fragmentary form and with six different actors: inside who have gathered in the head and body of the protagonist. Mangold’s interpretation is much more concrete, but therefore no less engaging. Because – in contrast to many other biopics about musicians: inside – Swiss chard is actually interested in music.
A lot of time for the music: Timothée Chalamet and Co. do not have to rush through the film
Music in this type of films often degenerate into decorative accessories and only plays a mandatory role. It just happens, but rarely you penetrate its origin, her character and effect, since the focus is on the tried and tested story of ascent and fall. Fast montages, here a highlight briefly highlighted, but then it is already being hidden to the next station.
What surprised me in Mangold is how much time he takes to explore the moments when songs are played. This indifference is never created here, with which every important point is dealt with from A to Z. Instead, the film sinks into the guitars, in the words and voices – and also in the faces, sparsely illuminated by a mysterious headlight in the dark room.
Dylan’s shy and yet performed with the conviction of his nimble fingers and scratchy voice in the hospital in the hospital near Guthrie and Seeger is the first of many scenes in which I was able to immerse yourself in the music. Mangold knows that he cannot add too much new to the myth of Dylan. That’s why he listens to his music and how she changes all the more carefully.
Like a Complete Unknown is an unexpectedly decelerated film over long distances that prefer to stay in rough, atmospheric New York pictures. Despite their digital origin, they feel as if they were reached directly from that time. Rich in texture and details: Dylan’s music is embedded in a tangible environment, through which I was able to hike completely in thought.
Like a Complete Unknown lives very much from his thoughtful, autumnal New York atmosphere
Gray curb edges, wet asphalt and stairs covered by leaf leaves: Like a Complete Unkown leads through the autumn, cold New York, from the glowing neon lights in the background of a dinner to the warm studio environment, where there is nothing more fascinating than the ditch between microfron and harmonica. And at this point, Dylan has not even started playing electrically.
This is the big framework of the film: Dylan, who rises to the folk hero and later boasted the music direction of the music genre on stage at the Newport Folk Festival. Swiss chard focuses on the four years in between before he Like a Rolling Stone unleashed with full force And the canvas. An ecstatic finale that lets a music history experience up close.
Like a Complete Unkown is more remembered by his surprisingly calm, thoughtful and therefore very touching moments. Sometimes Mangold’s film even knocks on the loneliness of Inside Llewyn Davis and stays at the moment when a song finds its way into a sparsely illuminated room, regardless of whether it is sung by Bob Dylan, Joan Baez or Pete Seegers.
Oh, and I was not prepared for how incredibly good the casting from Boyd Holbrook is as a Johnny Cash. Mangold dedicated a biopic to Walk the Line two decades before two decades. At that time, Joaquin Phoenix played the country legend. Now Holbrook creates his own version of the singer in no time. It not only bristles with energy, but also brings a deep understanding of Dylan’s stubbornness.
We saw Like a Complete Unknown as part of the Berlinale 2025. On February 27, 2025, the film regularly starts in German cinemas.