Movie Review: A Complete Unknown (2024)

A Complete Unknown chronicles Bob Dylan's journey from his arrival in Greenwich Village to his infamous electric set at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965. Directed by James Mangold and based on Jay Cocks’ screenplay adapted from Dylan Goes Electric, the film’s title suggests a focus on Dylan’s rise to relevance in the burgeoning folk scene, but the second half pivots to the drama surrounding his musical transformation and disastrous set at the 1965 Newport Music Festival. Unfortunately, it results in a movie frustratingly at odds with itself over which of two stories it wants to tell. Its rather inelegant solution is to tell both and hope for the best.  The film divides itself neatly into two parts, with a fade-out marking a jump forward of about six months. In that time, Dylan transitions from relative obscurity to international superstardom. The first half is essentially a sweet coming-of-age tale, immersing the viewer in Dylan’s early days in Greenwich V

by Robert Book and Bradley Paul Gee · source ↗