Paul McGuire Grimes, creator of Paul’s Trip to the Movies, talks with Timothee Chalamet and Elle Fanning about their new movie, A Complete Unknown. The movie comes on Christmas day.

A COMPLETE UNKNOWN (in theaters)

Music biopics are incredibly popular. The life of Bob Dylan is explored in the new film A Complete Unknown. Timothée Chalamet has the daunting task of playing Bob Dylan who has become one of the most recognized, revered, and celebrated artists of all time. A Complete Unknown opens in 1961 with a young Bob Dylan arriving in New York City with only a backpack and a guitar. He was inspired by Woody Guthrie and manages to make his way into in Guthrie’s hospital room in order to meet his hero. Pete Seeger (Edward Norton) also happens to be there at the time, and they take notice of Dylan’s raw talents with a guitar. Pete books Bob some open mic nights where he’s then discovered by a record label and songstress Joan Baez (Monica Barbaro). At this point, Bob’s now living with his new girlfriend, Sylvie (Elle Fanning), and struggling with this newfound and abrupt fame where people are hounding him on the streets and buying his records.

-James Mangold co-wrote and directed the film. This is his second music biopic, as he also directed Walk the Line aboutJohnny Cash. It’s an interesting career move for Mangold to make two music biopics with intersecting characters and timelines.

-Adapted from the book “Dylan Goes Electric” by Elijah Wald and has a focused timeline only spanning four years from 1961 to the 1965 Newport Folk Festival where we see the crowd’s reaction to Dylan turning in his acoustic guitar to do a three-song electric set.

-Mangold uses this framework to narrow in on making this a character piece about Dylan and the historical context behind his music. I never felt Mangold succumbing to the Wikipedia life span approach to telling Dylan’s story.

-Timothée Chalamet gives an outstanding performance as Dylan. I never felt like he was doing a transformation or impersonation but rather channeling Dylan through himself. He has the physicality of Dylan, sounds like the singer, but doesn’t lose himself in the role which is commendable.

-Monica Barbaro was captivating from the very first moment we meet Joan Baez and get to learn the complicated relationship she had with Dylan. She has a gorgeous voice capturing Baez’s soulful, airy timber.

-The film crams in a lot of Dylan’s music and showcases the historical context as a backdrop of what inspired his lyrics.

-The film’s title A Complete Unknown aptly fits the film as there’s still a lot unknown about Dylan by the end. Director James Mangold doesn’t try to explain his life but presents a complicated artist who was ahead of his time but someone who hated the spotlight and played by his own rules.

RATING: 4 out of 5 TICKET STUBS