A Complete Unknown follows the life and legacy of 1960s folk star Bob Dylan. The film, directed by James Mangold, stars Timothee Chalamet and Elle Fanning and was first released in theatres in  December of 2024. The film explores Dylan’s struggles as he wishes that he could play the music that is true to himself, not the folk music that his fans expect. By the end, Dylan decides to go ahead with his passion for electric instruments and sets the fate of his fame in stone.

The film has been undeniably successful, earning a long list of nominations from the Academy Awards and The Golden Globes as well as earning a box office gross profit of $74.2 million.

However, the protagonist, Bob Dylan, was portrayed as  far from a role model. Mangold focused on highlighting the ups and downs of Dylan’s fame. The historic events of the sixties were weaved into the plot, giving the audience a sense of what life was like back then.

Despite the serious mood of the movie, there were some amusing lines.

Sigal Cutler (’28) said that on the downside, “The plot was a little confusing because it felt like it was missing some parts.” The movie’s often confusing nuance resulted in Cutler rating the film “7/10, because it didn’t capture… [her] attention for the whole movie but the music was nice and it was an interesting story.”

The movie did an impressive job of balancing these two different themes: the significance of openness and the importance of personal authenticity,by  demonstrating how Dylan’s career evolved.

Violet Peluso (’28) comments on how A Complete Unknown’s “ending was very realistic because when Bob Dylan got more famous, he got more mean.”

It leads one to wonder, why choose a mean protagonist?

It may be because folk music, similar to Bob Dylan’s music,  has recently become more popular in the form of folk pop, some significant artists being Noah Kahan and Phoebe Bridgers. They create slow music with guitars, comparable to Bob Dylan.

Therefore, teenagers would likely benefit from seeing “A Complete Unknown. Today’s youth may look for calm and simple music to listen to, nothing too fast paced. The times we live in are undeniably turbulent, just as they were in the 1960s, and as their taste in music shows, teenagers haven’t changed all that much.