By Orla Ruane, First Year English Literature
With the Oscars approaching, the undeniable dominance of ‘A Complete Unknown’, a biopic detailing the formative years of Bob Dylan’s career has led to eight academy award nominations including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor. ‘A Complete Unknown’, written and directed by James Mangold can only be described as a moment in history. With Timothée Chalamet embodying a young Bob Dylan, the films follows Dylan's journey through the inception of his career and the irreversible impact that it had on his life from 1961 to 1965.
The film captures the stark difference between the culture of the 60s and that of the modern day. The audience feel as though they are being transported back to ‘simpler times’, a time where music was not as easily accessible as it is today, relying on record sales as opposed to streaming figures. The cultural differences are reinforced on screen through the inaccessibility to information which is something that a modern audience cannot relate to. In the opening of the film we are faced with a young Dylan brandishing an extract he had cut out of a newspaper detailing the hospital in which Woody Guthrie, played by Scoot McNairy, is staying in hopes of meeting his hero.
One thing that sets ‘A Complete Unknown’ apart in a sea of mediocre biopics detailing the lives of artists is that it focuses on what came before. Through emphasising Dylan’s crescendo of success from relative anonymity to headlining the ‘Newport Folk Festival’ the film encapsulates the cultural impact that Dylan had on a post-war generation. As one of the first artists to take a publicly political stance and write his own music, instead of covering songs that were considered ‘classics’, many argue that Dylan changed the face of folk music during the 1960s.
A great aspect of the film lies within the supporting cast. With Monica Barbaro playing Joan Baez, Boyd Holbrook playing Johnny Cash and Edward Norton playing Pete Seeger, the presence of other influential musicians during the period grounds the biopic in a time where the folk genre was both prevalent and beloved as a pinnacle of American culture in the 60s.
As Timothée Chalamet embodies the character of a man who did not attend the ceremony to receive a Nobel Prize in Literature, the elusive figure of Bob Dylan remains an iconic figure within American history. Encapsulating a time that perceived rock music negatively, being labelled ‘rebellious’, we witness the artist grapple between the world of folk music and the cultural shift that ‘going electric’ would cause to his reputation and image. Touching upon historical contexts such as the Cuban missile crisis, although there are some slight discrepancies between what was portrayed in the biopic and reality as detailed in this Rolling Stone article the biopic reveals the political landscape experienced by Dylan which majorly influenced his art. Will the film sweep up at the Oscars? I guess only time will tell. Although Timothée Chalamet’s unintelligible mumbling and long dirty fingernails may be unorthodox, his portrayal of Dylan highlights the historical impact that he has had on culture and his influence on artists today.
Do you think Timothee Chalamet could nab the Oscar for his portrayal of Bob Dylan?
