Review
DULCIE PEARCE
A Complete Unknown film review: Bob Dylan’s story is brought to life in this star-studded biopic
Meanwhile, the Shrek 5 release date has been delayed
A COMPLETE UNKNOWN
(15) 140mins
★★★★☆
4
4
IF you are a Bob Dylan fan, you will be used to the guitar- playing genius refusing to conform to popular demands.
Now a story behind the intriguing musical mystery has done the same, with a detailed account of the first four years of his career.
Its gentle pace and regular songs played out in full go against the grain in a beautifully confident way.
Opening in 1961, we meet a 19-year-old Dylan (Timothee Chalamet) arriving in New York from Minnesota.
He has only the clothes he stands in — and his guitar.
READ MORE FILM REVIEWS
Bad boyfriend
Bob makes his way to a hospital to see Woody Guthrie, political folk singer of then-controversial track This Land Is Your Land.
At the bedside of Guthrie, played by Scoot McNairy, is fellow folk singer Pete Seeger (Edward Norton), and Dylan performs one of his songs to the pair.
They recognise his raw talent and he is soon taken in by Seeger and the folk community.
Dylan starts playing dingy open-mic nights and church services, where he meets girlfriend Sylvie Russo (Elle Fanning) — real name Suze Rotolo, but changed for the film.
Most read in Film
She is seen clutching the singer’s arm on the cover of his 1963 album,
The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan.
The Rock’s new £200m Christmas movie slammed as the 'worst ever'
He soon moves into her New York apartment and wakes at all hours to scrawl down songs.
Dylan behaves like a moody, bad boyfriend, and I was never quite sure what spikey Sylvie saw in him.
Dylan also has a relationship with fellow singer Joan Baez (Monica Barbaro) and the pair soon make music together, on stage and off.
But it becomes clear that there’s only room for one person in Bob Dylan’s life. And that is Bob Dylan.
Directed by Oscar- nominated James Mangold, this film delicately examines the life of a man who is burdened by his own talent.
He loathes fame, yet can’t help getting on stage.
Chalamet does a stunning job of bringing life to a difficult role that he clearly knows will have super-fans dissecting every word.
His singing and playing are immaculate, performing 40 songs with breathtaking imitation.
Norton and Barbaro also both stand out.
The film culminates at the Newport Folk Festival where Bob, loved for his acoustic music, plays new songs with electric instruments.
Whether you are a fan or not, do see this fascinating biopic.
Don’t think twice, it’s more than all right.
Film news
JASON STATHAM will star in thriller A Working Man, co-written by Sylvester Stallone.
THE Shrek 5 release date has been delayed until December 2026.
LONGLEGS director Osgood Perkins is adapting Stephen King’s The Monkey.
WOLF MAN
(15) 105mins
★★★☆☆
4
WOLF Man delivers an impressive – if a little uneven – reimagining of the werewolf legend.
It is from Leigh Whannell, the creative mind behind the latest adaptation of H.G. Wells’ horror classic The Invisible Man (2020).
Christopher Abbott (Poor Things) gives a raw and intense performance as Blake, a husband and father haunted by painful childhood memories and feelings of inadequacy.
His past comes rushing back when his estranged father is officially declared dead years after disappearing near their old home in the wilderness.
Amid a strained marriage, Blake, his journalist wife Charlotte (Ozark star Julia Garner) and their daughter Ginger return to his remote childhood home to settle his father’s affairs.
In the wilderness, the trio find themselves prey to an unknown assailant.
Despite occasional pacing issues, director Whannell elevates Wolf Man beyond simple horror with a powerful exploration of domestic abuse and generational trauma.
His blend of subtext with classic tropes and brutal horror with profound depth brings another impressive adaptation.
HERE
(12A) 104mins
★★★★☆
4
CO-WRITTEN with Eric Roth, Robert Zemeckis’s Here – adapted from Richard McGuire’s graphic novel – is a tribute to the lives and histories contained within a single spot of land and its inhabitants.
Set in the living room of a Philadelphia house, the film ambitiously spans generations and weaves together stories of the families that called it home.
The house itself becomes the star, hosting an array of individuals, from aviators and inventors, to war veterans and, eventually, an African-American family, as they leave their mark.
Tom Hanks and Robin Wright are digitally de-aged for certain scenes and deliver warm, touching performances.
Elsewhere, Paul Bettany and Kelly Reilly bring nuance to Al and Rose, a couple grappling with domestic struggles.
Zemeckis employs split screens and static camera shots to honour the story’s graphic novel origins and the film captures the bittersweet beauty of ordinary lives with heartfelt sincerity, earning both tears and laughter.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
Ultimately, this story represents one of the first successful uses of de-aging technology.
LINDA MARRIC
Topics