A Complete Unknown (2024)

Wow. Just wow. I first saw Bob Dylan in the early 70's when I was in high school--I was, in retrospect, lucky to have a boyfriend who was into really great music, and while Dylan had some unevenness as a performer, he is an incredibly gifted lyricist. Watching Timothee Chalomet inhabit his character for a couple of hours was amazing for me. I knew most of the story and the sequence of events--I am, afterall, a life long fan of Dylan. While I saw the Grateful Dead way way more live, I listened to Dylan's music more than any other music across my lifespan. My children know his music, at first because they had little choice, it surrounded them, and late for enjoyment. Ballads, songs that tell a story, are my favorites, and his are some of the best. So it is impossible for me to judge this a a cinematic work--I loved spending time listening to Chalomet's renditions of Dylan's songs, both musically and vocally, because it evoked all of those experiences over decades of my life, and he was pitch perfect at the details. I appreciate his dedication to his craft and how faithful to his subject he was able to be. This wasn't overwhelmingly successful on the awards circuit, but it was one of the most enjoyable movies of the year for me to watch.