James Mangold
A Complete Unknown

“A Complete Unknown” seems aimed at recreating an aesthetic feeling, a pseudo-existential pose, rather than truly delving deep into the story of Bob Dylan. An informative film, two hours and twenty minutes full of songs, emotional ups and downs, beautiful girls, cigarettes, motorcycles, Ray-Ban sunglasses. But if it weren’t for the subtitled songs (and the ample time dedicated to them), the film's exquisitely content-oriented contribution would seem almost scant.

I refer to what has made Bob Dylan a legend: his lyrics, the words, the themes. His intellectual posture.

It is certainly complicated to address his entire career, or even a wider portion of it, but given the choice to focus on the 1961-65 period, one would have expected more detailed anecdotes, a more precise research on the ideas, on the genesis of the songs. Instead, it proceeds with a more superficial attitude, focusing on the sensations, the concert atmospheres, the moods, and the loves, somewhat relegating the concepts, the inspiration, the genius.

The film, all in all, works decently thanks to good casting (starting with the protagonist) and especially thanks to a second part in which Dylan plays almost an antagonist role. A capricious star or a revolutionary? A madman or a visionary? The tension inherent in the electric turn keeps alive a work that otherwise would seem too comfortable and sometimes a bit muddled.

It is the Mangold of “Walk the Line” that reprises the usual formula (many songs and love stories in the foreground), but without the edges and harshness of Johnny Cash. It therefore spontaneously raises a question: can we say once and for all that musical biopics don't necessarily have to be films full of songs? Rather, I would watch a documentary or a real Bob concert; here, I would have liked to discover something I didn’t know, to delve into character aspects, to explore less known biographical elements.

Instead, it feels like: “If in the last 60 years you've been on Mars, or you were born yesterday, we'll tell you a couple of things about a guy who made rock history. Don’t worry, it's an easy story”.