Given his status as a folk legend, longtime Bob Dylan fans could be forgiven for feeling nervous about the biopic A Complete Unknown, which is finally out in UK cinemas.
The new film stars Timothée Chalamet as the pioneering songwriter, Monica Barbaro as fellow musician Joan Baez and Elle Fanning as Sylvie Russo — a pseudonym for a more private ex of Bob’s, Suze Rotolo – and follows the early years of his career, and his romantic relationships during that time.
Some hope could be found in knowing that Bob himself has given the film his seal of approval.
He said in a post on X last month: “There’s a movie about me opening soon called A Complete Unknown (what a title!). Timothée Chalamet is starring in the lead role. Timmy’s a brilliant actor so I’m sure he’s going to be completely believable as me. Or a younger me. Or some other me.
“The film’s taken from Elijah Wald’s Dylan Goes Electric – a book that came out in 2015. It’s a fantastic retelling of events from the early ’60s that led up to the fiasco at Newport. After you’ve seen the movie read the book.”
What’s more, the Blowing In The Wind singer was actually pretty involved in the production of A Complete Unknown, too.
Although the film was released on Friday here in the UK, it was actually released on Christmas Day in the States. Now that US fans have had some time to take the film in, they have been sharing their opinions on the dedicated Bob Dylan Reddit thread – and they seem pretty impressed...
In a post titled “I actually really enjoyed A Complete Unknown”, Reddit user Yodeoh2 explained that they’d taken their parents – who weren’t fans of Bob Dylan – to see the film, and all three of them enjoyed it.
They added: “I have shown them multiple Dylan movies and documentaries, but none of them have ever really caught their attention. So this is promising. I think this is going to prove to be a good entry point for people, which I’m really excited about.”
Well, that is promising.
User Spiritual_Hunter2224 agreed, saying: ”[I] watched it and made me want to listen to more Dylan afterwards. Success for me. Hope it attracts new listeners.”
Joshoowaa offered a very hopeful review, saying: “As a dad of young kids I don’t get to the theatre much. And as a songwriter/musician myself I usually can’t stomach music biopics because some technical detail takes me out of the experience.
“I found nothing of the sort in the film, I had a wonderful experience and I’m very thankful I got to see it.”
Another parent, SuitableRubble added: “This was part of my Christmas present from my daughter! They both went with me. They’re 26 and 22.
“They both loved it. Of course I’ve been cramming Dylan down their necks since they were little. But I really loved it. A few of the timeline screw ups irritated me, but overall it was great. Ed Norton really nailed Pete Seeger.”
It seems that even the toughest critics were won over by this film. We’re looking forward to seeing it for ourselves.
A Complete Unknown is out in UK cinemas .