A Complete Unknown- Timmy’s Best Work Since Beautiful Boy
Quick Take: As part of my screener bonanza, I received A Complete Unknown without audio description. So, this review is my first thoughts on the film, but by no means my final thoughts. It was enough to give me a taste, and to have some idea of whether or not this film has actors in winning performances. If we’re being honest, that’s why most people are here, to see Timothee Chalamet play Bob Dylan. How good is he? How close does he look to the part? The funny thing about being sighted and watching a biopic, is being able to judge how someone disappears, often with the help of prosthetic makeup. As someone who still had sight when Gary Oldman won for disappearing inside Winston Churchill, part of that was due to the makeup team. He didn’t look at all like himself.
So, with Chalamet as Dylan, or any number of the other actors playing everyone from Johnny Cash to Joan Baez, the comparison game I’ve found is something hard to translate in audio description anyway. It requires us to have a solid knowledge of the original subject, the actor, and the transformation from one to another. And this is what anchors so many biopics. Without that, we are left with story. While I’m still catching up to my eventual review of better Man, I enjoyed that biopic a lot more as a film. However, what Chalamet has done here, sounding like Dylan, and even playing the guitar along with singing, really shows his commitment to the role. I also was really impressed by Monica Barberau, who I had my sights on long before she was ever nominated anywhere. In fact, on my YouTube, when i teamed up with Alex Howard to break down the Supporting Actress race, I had her in my five, before ever even seeing this film. She’s been a rising star, and this is the role to help her breakout.
I’ll have more thoughts later, but James Mangold is a solid director. This felt a little too much like it was a concert film, more interested in allowing full performances of songs, than telling a story. he made a better biopic with Walk The Line, and i think this film being in the Best picture race over some stronger films is unfortunate. I also just released on my YouTube my Top 10 Directors of the year, and had 10 honorable mentions. As much as I love Mangold on movies like Walk The Line, and Logan, he just missed the cut. I plan to come back around after hearing the audio description track. For more, check out my video.
