A Complete Unknown (Dylan biopic)

[TC Chris]

I biked downtown to see A Complete Unknown tonight, the film about Bob Dylan's early years.

It opens auspiciously over a recording by Woody Guthrie. Then we hear the Dylan singing some of his early songs, the second being "Girl From the North Country," a song that always makes me pause and always brings tears and takes the breath away. It's probably my favorite Dylan song, although as the film progresses we encounter one brilliant song after another. We also encounter towering performers like Pete Seeger, Joan Baez, and Johnny Cash. Dylan and Cash were correspondents, exchanging letters back when that meant getting out a pen and a piece of paper. All of this had me wiping my eyes and grinning at the same time. These are giants of that age and their music had substance. Remember that Dylan is the only songwriter to win a Nobel Prize. The film is just filled with music (albeit in shortened versions to meet time constraints) and even if the screenplay and acting had been mediocre it would have been worth seeing just to encounter all that good noise again.

But the screenplay was tight and the acting persuasive. The actors all sang their own parts. Yes, each one. Bob, Pete, Joan, and Johnny were portrayed fully and musically by the actors. Back in the day, Hollywood chose actors for star power and when they appeared in musicals, the singing was dubbed in or voiced over. Read about Marni Nixon (some will say "who?") here:

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/26/arts ... es-86.html

Great music, well-made movie; recommended

Chris Campbell