It’s been almost twenty years since James Mangold directed Walked the Line. Far from the first music biopic, this was around the time more people started catching on to certain tropes. It even provided the basis for Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story. That satire underperformed upon release, yet has gained a wider following in the wake of Bohemian Rhapsody, I Wanna Dance with Somebody, Back to Black, and so many others. Although the genre is becoming a parody of itself, Walk the Line still holds up. Part of that’s thanks to the performances, but James Mangold’s direction and the script don’t get enough credit. For all its familiar beats, Walk the Line wisely focused on a specific period and relationship in Johnny Cash’s life rather than squeezing everything into two hours.
A Complete Unknown could be seen as Mangold’s companion piece to Walk the Line. Not just because it also includes Johnny Cash, this time played by Boyd Holbrook in a supporting role. The star here is Timothée Chalamet in a transformative performance as Bob Dylan. It’d take a ten-hour miniseries to do justice to Dylan’s life and career. Mangold’s film restricts itself to Dylan’s early days as he goes from a literal complete unknown to sporting an instantly recognizable hairdo and pair of sunglasses. Like Walk the Line, A Complete Unknown comes with some of the baggage we expect. What both films get right that so many other biopics miss is the spirit of the protagonist.
Our introduction to Dylan is his arrival in New York, carrying little other than his guitar and the clothes on his back. The film doesn’t delve into his life beforehand, but he has no interest in looking through the rear-view mirror. He’s in the city to visit a hospitalized Woody Guthrie (Scoot McNairy), who can barely communicate. Dylan’s music speaks to him, marking the beginning of a friendship. Dylan also befriends Pete Seeger (Edward Norton), who gets him in front of a microphone.
 
Mangold gets New York’s folk music scene down to a T. When the spotlight hits Dylan, it’s quiet and intimate. Yet, you feel a surge of energy throughout the crowded club, as if he was playing to a sold-out Madison Square Garden. Chalamet not only plays guitar and harmonica, but provides his own singing vocals as Dylan. Despite sounding as if he smoked a pack of cigarettes every day since childhood, Chalamet’s voice is butter on bread to our ears. Stylistically, A Complete Unknown calls Inside Llewyn Davis to mind. Of course, Dylan goes on to be far more successful than Davis, although both have relationship struggles.
Dylan becomes romantically entangled with fellow folk singer Joan Baez (Monica Barbaro) and artist Sylvie Russo (Elle Fanning), who was named Suze Rotolo in reality. While Walk the Line also had a love triangle, there was never any question that June Carter was the love of Cash’s life. Baez understands Dylan better as a performer, but Russo is the one there for him at home. Dylan can’t fully give himself to either woman. Thus, neither can give themselves to him. It would’ve been easy for Chalamet to overshadow everyone else onscreen. When Fanning and Barbaro appear, though, it never feels like they’re playing second harmonica.
Although Dylan doesn’t belong to one woman, he inevitably belongs to the world as his songs change music forever. Eventually, Dylan can’t go into a bar or hail a cab without being recognized. Even at the peak of his fame, Dylan has the look and persona of a drifter just passing by. When everyone knows your name (or at least your stage name), passing by is easier said than done.
Dylan enters the film a complete unknown. In the end, he’s still something of an enigma. That just goes to show that the filmmakers understand the subject matter. This approach helps the film to overcome its formulaic moments, especially in the second act. If you want a more experimental take on Dylan, Todd Haynes’ I’m Not There might be more your speed. For a traditional biopic, though, Mangold and Chalamet handle the material like a Rolling Stone.