In “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence,” a reporter famously says, “When the legend becomes fact, print the legend,” which is what director James Mangold, his co-writer Jay Cocks and his superb cast do with Bob Dylan in “A Complete Unknown.” Loosely based on Elijah Wald’s 2015 book, “Dylan Goes Electric!: Newport, Seeger, Dylan and the Night That Splits the Sixties," the film follows Dylan from his 1961 arrival in New York City through his controversial “electric” performance at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival that marked his break from folk and move into the realm of rock ’n’ roll. It does so through tremendous performances by Timothee Chalamet as Dylan, Edward Norton as Pete Seeger — pencil those two in for Oscar nominations — Elle Fanning as Dylan’s girlfriend, Sylvie Russo, and Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez.
Chalamet, Norton and Barbaro each resemble the people they are playing — an important element, at least for me, to buy into a biopic. People are also reading..
. To wit, after I saw “A Complete Unknown,” I watched “Don’t Look Back,” D.A.
Pennebaker’s documentary that followed Dylan’s 1965 tour of England. Chalamet looks very much like that Dylan, speaks in Dylan fashion and impressively performs, singing and playing guitar, Dylan style. He clearly studied up, probably via this and a couple other concert films, and practiced for years to play the role.
The same holds true for Barbaro, who, much like Baez, has a clear, stunning so.
