Timothée Chalamet’s performance as legendary singer-songwriter Bob Dylan in James Mangold’s biopic A Complete Unknown has been called “electrifying.”
The Oscar nominee, 28, who had no contact with the Like A Rolling Stone hitmaker, 83, before playing him, has been praised by critics for saving the film, despite its flaws.
The film focuses on Dylan’s early career, his transition from folk to rock, and his iconic performance at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival.
The Daily Mail’s Brian Viner said: “Director and co-writer Mangold has created an absorbing film, focusing on those crucial few years between Dylan’s arrival in New York City in 1961 as an anonymous teenage troubadour from Minnesota.” .
He then continues: “But A Complete Unknown is a triumph, nonetheless, and entertainingly reminds us that, love him or hate him, Dylan remains one of the most influential musicians of the last 70 years.” And Chalamet, 28, is much more than a pretty face.
“It has many similar strengths (as Walk the Line) but different weaknesses, although Timothée Chalamet’s electrifying – in every sense – performance is not among the latter,” wrote David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter.
28-year-old Timothée Chalamet’s performance as legendary singer-songwriter Bob Dylan in James Mangold’s biopic A Complete Unknown has been called “electrifying”; seen in a frame
Rooney added that “neither the film nor the actor sugarcoats the aggressiveness of a creative genius whose callousness toward those close to him often contrasts starkly with the humanity of his songs.”
‘(Chalamet), who convincingly sings here, was the perfect choice to play Dylan. Really, the only option. He makes the movie,” Johnny Oleksinski of the New York Post wrote.
‘Chalamet is not turning into Bob Dylan. “He is carefully crafting a performance that evokes it, while channeling something wild and fickle in the ether,” David Fear of rolling stone wrote.
Others criticized Kylie Jenner’s boyfriend, who took home the Visionary Tribute award at the Gotham Film Awards earlier this month, for even attempting to capture such a complex character.
“Perhaps Dylan himself is too mercurial a figure for a biopic to fully capture… but A Complete Unknown is as close as one could reasonably hope for,” Robbie Collin of Daily Telegraph UK wrote.
“Chalamet has that lanky, youthful appeal so central to Dylan’s nascent image, but he cleverly complicates the image with touches of haughty arrogance, mercurial temperament, and aloof disregard for the feelings of those around him,” Richard Lawson of vanity fair fixed.
And he added: “To see him is to feel what so many other characters in the film feel: an affection and a curious sense of loss as he recedes into the lonely mists of talent and fame.”
‘Chalamet rises to the challenge of capturing the poignant charisma of Dylan’s budding, anti-matter, read-between-the-lines personality. It’s a riveting performance that’s true to Dylan and, equally important, true to the films’ logic,” Owen Gleiberman of Variety wrote.
The Oscar nominee, who had no contact with the Like A Rolling Stone hitmaker, 83, before playing him, has been praised by critics for saving the film, despite its flaws; seen in a photo with Elle Fanning
“It has many similar strengths (as Walk the Line) but different weaknesses, although Timothée Chalamet’s electrifying – in every sense – lead performance is not among the latter,” wrote David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter.
‘(Chalamet), who convincingly sings here, was the perfect choice to play Dylan. Really, the only option. He makes the movie,” wrote Johnny Oleksinski of the New York Post.
However, several reviews noted that while the film respects Dylan’s music and is well made, it does not fully capture Dylan’s magic.
‘It’s diligent work. But being obedient is not enough with Dylan,” wrote the Independent’s Clarisse Loughrey.
Several reviews noted that while the film respects Dylan’s music and is well made, it does not fully capture Dylan’s magic.
‘(The film) takes a reverent stance toward Dylan’s artistry, populated with technically accomplished musical performances and filmed with a real sensitivity to the emotional landscape of each track. It is diligent work. But being obedient isn’t enough with Dylan,” said Clarisse Loughrey of the Independent wrote.
Loughrey also noted that Chalamet might not be as suitable to play Dylan as Joaquin Phoenix was as Johnny Cash in Mangold’s 2005 film Walk the Line.
“Chalamet, perhaps, is not as perfectly suited to play Dylan as Phoenix was to play Cash. There’s something too plain about his personality, even if the vapor cloud cap and sunglasses help with the transformation into its later scenes.
“He puts a lot of effort into convincing musical interpretations to compensate for the fact that he has nothing astute to say on the subject, largely because he doesn’t seem to really know it,” Nick Schager of The daily beast wrote.
Last month, Chalamet admitted that he had never met Dylan, while appearing on Apple Music 1. The Zane Lowe Show.
The actor noted that he would “love” to meet Dylan, but the Blowin’ In The Wind artist has kept a low profile in recent years.
“It’s kind of removed from public view,” Chalamet said. “I’ve never met him… I’ve seen him live.”
Last month Chalamet admitted that he had never met Dylan but had “seen him live”; Chalamet photographed on December 5 in Minneapolis
A Complete Unknown will hit theaters on Christmas Day
The film focuses on Dylan’s early career, his transition from folk to rock and his iconic performance at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival; Dylan seen in 1966
Chalamet, who leads a cast that also includes Edward Norton, Elle Fanning, Monica Barbaro and Scoot McNairy, said Dylan had some creative control during production of the Mangold-directed biographical drama.
“He approved the script, he made modifications to the script, there are lines that are his in the script that I enjoyed,” Chalamet said in the interview.
Chalamet said he hoped Mangold would hand him a script on which Dylan took notes as a holy grail cinematic souvenir.
‘There was one thing I was saying to Jim Mangold… ‘This is good, man, when did you come up with this?’ He says, ‘Bob put that in.’ He’s got the script written down by Bob. I want it.’
Chalamet said that he sang and acted in the film, and that he did not seek to emulate Dylan, as it would not make “sense” creatively to even try to impersonate the basic musical element.
“Bob didn’t have a vocal coach,” he told Lowe. “I had two bottles of red wine and four packs of cigarettes – there’s no way to personify that.”
In the interview, Chalamet said his preparation for playing Dylan included working with a harmonica coach over a five-year span; and a ‘spiritual reunion’ tour through places central to Dylan’s roots with stops in Minnesota, Illinois and Wisconsin.
“I’m glad it took five or six years because now I’m deeply immersed in that Church of Bob,” Chalamet said. “I feel like that’s my mission for the next three months, until the movie comes out, I feel like I’m in Bob’s Church, I’m a humble disciple.”
A Complete Unknown will hit theaters on Christmas Day.
Dylan (born Robert Zimmerman) concluded his Rough and Rowdy Ways world tour in London last month.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member is truly a national treasure and has received 10 Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, a Pulitzer Prize Special Citation, and the Nobel Prize in Literature.