My Arts Editor was upset at the portrayal of Joan Baez. “She’s an alto!” she shrieked, “not a mezzo!”
A Complete Unknown (2024) is a fictionalized biography of the first five years of musician Bob Dylan’s advent on the music scene. My Arts Editor may have said it best, and I’ll summarize: Hey, you can understand the lyrics!
And, yes, there are other aspects to this movie: the people he worked with, scrapped with, who shaped him and why – but nothing about his family, interestingly enough. To that extent, it’s as if the void invented him and thrust him upon humanity.
But for me, for who neither poetry, outside of a little Milton, nor most song lyrics, scan, and who also has been ignorant of Mr Dylan’s work, it was an interesting exposure of some of the most obtuse, yet, judging from his devoted following, attractive song lyrics out there.
Exploring the issues of one creator and performer, including those inherent in the tensions between performer and creator, this is intense.
Recommended.
