{"id":153040,"date":"2024-12-15T15:15:21","date_gmt":"2024-12-15T15:15:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hollywoodintoto.com\/?p=2042099"},"modified":"2024-12-15T15:15:21","modified_gmt":"2024-12-15T15:15:21","slug":"a-complete-unknown-shreds-biopic-formula","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gamefootballmobileanimeiphone.com\/index.php\/2024\/12\/15\/a-complete-unknown-shreds-biopic-formula\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018A Complete Unknown\u2019 Shreds Biopic Formula"},"content":{"rendered":"

James Mangold\u2019s \u201cA Complete Unknown\u201d is one of those musical biopics that gives you what you expect, if not demand, but also manages to be better than the formula typically allows.<\/strong><\/p>\n

What formula am I referring to?<\/p>\n

The one where we meet our down-and-out musician who gets an opportunity to shine before a potential handler (cue the wide-eyed reaction shots of the soon-to-be-manager), followed by rehearsal and concert montages, the second act blow-ups and screaming matches, followed by the third-act redemption, which usually takes place on stage in front of hundreds of screaming fans.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t forget the self-conscious dialog that arrogantly points to the future (example: \u201cYou\u2019ll never amount to anything, not with a name like that\u2026DAVID BOWIE!\u201d) and already sounds like the inevitable \u201cSaturday Night Live\u201d parody to come.<\/p>\n

I am so sick of these movies.<\/p>\n

The thing about most music bios, particularly those made during the past 25 years, is how the majority are based on the lives of artists who are still alive, have joined the project as a producer and can dictate the direction of the film. Hence, a lot of these films are watered down and fairly generic.<\/p>\n

Not all of them, to be fair, but many of them are promo pieces for the soundtrack and disposable as TV-movie level dramas. Yes, you get a great soundtrack and a showcase for a lead performer who can impersonate (and usually lip synch) like a pro, but there\u2019s a sameness to so many of these movies.<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s \u201cA Complete Unknown,\u201d which somehow adheres to the formula and expectations of The Bob Dylan Movie but doubles down on the music, the unflattering details and the artist\u2019s stubborn belief in his art.<\/p>\n

The result is a film that feels less like it’s ready for VH1 than something as exhilarating, unflattering and refreshing blunt as the best of these kinds of films (more on them later).<\/p>\n

\"YouTube<\/a><\/p>\n

We meet Timothee Chalamet\u2019s Dylan as he hitchhikes into town and heads to the hospital to visit his ailing musical hero, Woody Guthrie (Scoot McNairy). In the presence of Guthrie and his friend\/folk singer Pete Seeger (Edward Norton), Dylan plays Guthrie a song he wrote about him.<\/p>\n

Chalamet\u2019s rendering of the tune (as well as a pitch-perfect take on Dylan), the understated way the actors play it, and Mangold\u2019s staging announces this will not be a typical “Behind The Music” movie.<\/p>\n

Dylan\u2019s slow ascent, random encounters and growth as a songwriter\/artist make up most of the narrative, which halts every few minutes to play a knockout tune and add another quirky touch to Dylan\u2019s legend.<\/p>\n

Essentially, even though he has presented various versions of himself and his artistry (something Todd Hayne\u2019s weird but fascinating 2007 \u201cI\u2019m Not There\u201d explored), Dylan is unknowable. Mangold and Chalamet seem aware of this and give us a poet and maestro whose music spoke to a generation, even as the man behind them could be aloof or, as presented here, off-putting and self-centered.<\/p>\n

I love Mangold\u2019s first two films, \u201cHeavy\u201d (1995) and \u201cCopland\u201d (1997) and recognize his depiction of Dylan being akin to the awkward, soulful outsider protagonists of those films. Mangold course-corrects himself after his successful but overpraised \u201cWalk the Line\u201d (2005), the Joaquin Phoenix\/ Reese Witherspoon led drama about John and June Carter Cash that is respectable but so generic, the inspired parody \u201cWalk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story\u201d (2007) spoofed it and just about every clich\u00e9 in the genre that proceeded it.<\/p>\n

\"YouTube<\/a><\/p>\n

Mangold\u2019s latest isn\u2019t a definitive Dylan film, though, outside of maybe D.A. Pennebaker\u2019s 1967 \u201cDon\u2019t Look Back\u201d documentary (I say maybe because even that film isn\u2019t the whole story), I doubt such a film is possible. \u201cA Complete Unknown\u201d fails to probe Dylan\u2019s psyche (learning who is the Real Dylan is probably impossible, if the interviews are any indication of how he keeps his enigmatic mystery intact).<\/p>\n

Is there a Definitive Dylan Movie at this point? I\u2019d say it\u2019s probably the bizarre, rambling and fascinating \u201cMasked and Anonymous\u201d (2003), with its all-star cast, dreamlike take on a post-apocalyptic world and positioning Dylan as the star, a man who has the answers for a fallen world. Dylan also co-scripted it.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not saying \u201cMasked and Anonymous\u201d is good, only that I\u2019ve never forgotten it and, as notable bad movies go, it\u2019s worth seeing at least once.<\/p>\n

In terms of the most visible missteps in \u201cA Complete Unknown,\u201d Dan Fogler\u2019s broad, \u201cSNL\u201d-ready performance as Dylan\u2019s manager is a big distraction. The scenes of Dylan\u2019s long-suffering girlfriend (Elle Fanning) are overly familiar.<\/p>\n

Like Oliver Stone\u2019s \u201cThe Doors\u201d (1991) it’s overlong, occasionally loses focus by trying to cover so much ground and, during the second act, it’s sometimes too much but not enough (Wait, who was Dylan dating in that one scene, who he sent walking home two minutes later? Did that keyboardist really nail the \u201cLike a Rolling Stone\u201d intro by sheer accident?!).<\/p>\n

Yet, like \u201cThe Doors,\u201d it centers around a towering lead performance, provides a young audience to bask in so much great music and so many great scenes to pull you back in whenever the film threatens to become unfocused.<\/p>\n

\n
\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
 <\/div>\n
\n
 <\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
\n
View this post on Instagram<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
\n
\n
 <\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
 <\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
 <\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
 <\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

A post shared by Columbia Records (@columbiarecords)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n