‘A Complete Unknown’ Is a Bob Dylan Movie. How Does It Feel? | The Big Picture

[@QuinnJosephMovies]

Timothée was fantastic. The quiet intensity he brought, especially at the beginning of the film, was a big surprise for me and it paid off so well. And man, when he does Song to Woody I was locked in.

[@kevinborchers3522]

I genuinely hurt for the people who dont enjoy Dylan. His catalogue is so vast and so special i couldnt imagine not having that in my life

[@VictorDiGiovanni]

lol. Don't weep for us. Dylan is a thousand fingernails on infinite chalkboards. Bob Dylan answers the question, "What if a kazoo wanted to be a real boy?" I acknowledge his importance in music history, but I can only appreciate it on paper. While this was a well-crafted film with a bunch of great performances, I emerged from this film infinitely more baffled at Bob Dylan's idolatry. Even in this worshipful film, he comes across as a black hole of personality. I tip my hat to people who hear Dylan and somehow hear pleasant sounds. But I'm just absolutely utterly baffled.

[@dustinboucher8102]

Mal saying Mississippi is one of her favorite songs of all time less than 3 minutes into the pod 💯 🔥 Merry Christmas!

[@thebacons5943]

Bob Dylan is a true genius and the world is truly richer while he’s in it. No film can encapsulate him, which is why they all shy away from trying. This one finds a way to introduce and celebrate him, and for that I’m deeply grateful.

[@pemp9606]

Think Timmy did a great job encapsulating him

[@mrnikeshgudka]

Guys Mallory should be in the thumbnail! Looking forward to this though!

[@landoncarpenter5111]

They want people to click on the video tho

[@crazyobsessivefreak]

@@landoncarpenter5111 I would have clicked faster... had i known she was part of it.

[@RKfMaster]

😂😂😂 ​@@landoncarpenter5111

[@pemp9606]

@@crazyobsessivefreak😅nah

[@jeffreyroedel9804]

Speeding away on his motorcycle was the perfect final shot for this film. Pete, the old generation folk curator remains behind picking up the chairs at the festival, a caretaker....Dylan rides away....Foreshadowing his motorcycle crash a year later, but more importantly, it is symbolic of Dylan as an artist never wanting to stand still.

[@ruioliveira1832]

This really could've used one person that is not a super-fan of Bob Dylan, perhaps someone that can give a perspective of someone who actually didn't previously know everything the movie discusses.

[@thebacons5943]

If you don’t get Bob, you don’t get life. Start with the music, don’t worry about the James Mangold biopic.

[@ruioliveira1832]

@thebacons5943 don't really know why I'm replying because I can sense where this is going but it's Xmas so let's give it a chance. The 3 of them went into this conversation behaving as if everyone picking a movie to watch this weekend knows what happened to Dylan in the 60s. I'm saying a lot of movie watchers (in the US, nevermind elsewhere) don't. So - in my opinion - it would be helpful to have someone less steeped in the subject talk and say what they thought about the movie. Because I know I'll watch it anyway but I'm not sure if my teenage sons would find it interesting. Hope that helped. Also really hope you really didn't mean your first sentence. Even as an hyperbole, that's just really sad. Happy holidays!

[@RThomasBehnke]

@@ruioliveira1832 - I agree with what you're saying. I love all these 3 people but to get a not quite dyaln super fan perspective might have been interesting! i'm happy they are happy tho!

[@ruioliveira1832]

@@RThomasBehnke Thank you. Also really happy - and relieved - CR and Sean enjoyed the movie, looking forward to seeing it.

[@andrewjpow]

I would argue it’s a more interesting perspective for self proclaimed “Dylanologists” to discuss it. There will be plenty of podcasts and articles about this movie written by people who don’t care about Dylan as much. These three have an obvious connection to his music and can understand the movie in the historical context of the real Dylan vs the fictional Chalamet Dylan. I understand what you mean, but you can go seek out what you’re looking for, it’s out there.

[@jeffreyroedel9804]

I loved it. I liked that it focused on just a pivotal 4 year period. I would have cut two of the music scenes (probably the studio stuff or the blues jam on Seeger's tv show) to make time for 3-4 more character moments and dramatic scenes. Also thought it was odd that the ending text mentioned how Dylan reunited with Pete Seeger in '68, but it did not mention how Dylan and Baez reunited in '75 for the Rolling Thunder Review Tour and by all accounts completely reconnected as friends. But that's minor criticism. The film is called A COMPLETE UNKNOWN. I get it. Even after breaking big and being famous, he is still unknown, and this film reenforces that. For a Dylan-approved film, this is to be expected...The performances, the sets/costumes, and the directing were excellent. Chalamet and Barbaro should both be nominated for Oscars.

[@Residentnomad]

[@YankingYaChain]

I listen to Indie Folk, I know a handful of Dylan's songs. Now, I will be putting him in my Folk/Rock rotation since seeing this film.

[@lrod2004]

Saw this a few days ago. Amazing biopic done by the master about a master song and dance man. Made my top 10 even as a biopic. Can’t un-hear Sean as Pete Seeger now 😂

[@verkpunk]

With all of the press Chalamet is doing for this I'm surprised Sean didn't get him in.

[@stephaniemoore9122]

TC’s been traveling a lot for the movie & searchlight & WB Dune 2, & being a producer for Marty Supreme I don’t know how he does it & keeps everything straight in his head

[@jonathanmendelsohn5014]

A great pod - Mallory captures the fan-response/great-pleasure of seeing this with people in a theatre, and Chris Ryan sums that up perfectly as a "really, really good times at the movies"; Fennessey nails the (lack of depth) problems with the film. If you've never seen Scorsese's doc of Dylan, No Direction Home ... my oh my - now that's a masterpiece and put most all these songs on the map for those of us late to the Dylan party.

[@ZJ-ne9kn]

I need to rewatch no direction home love in depth documentaries like that especially about a music legend from 60s

[@DaHomieRoach]

I was hoping this movie would give me some insight on a man that appears so mysterious whenever I try to ask others who lived through his music. Where do I even start to begin to try to understand Bob Dylan? Obviously his music, but is there a documentary or anything that dives deeper than apparently this movie does? I will start listening to his music, and I will watch this movie. I've always been fascinated in the rhetoric that surrounds him, whether that be positive or negative. He's such a polarizing figure that its daunting to even begin to unpack it all as an indifferent neutral. Where do I even begin?

[@CommonScentsAintSoCommonNow]

start with the No Direction Home doc by Martin Scorsese. It's the most obvious and fundamental starting point because it's an in depth look at who he was as told by the people that were there with him. You can branch off from there in any direction you choose because it sets up the main pieces that formed Bob Dylan.

[@DaHomieRoach]

@CommonScentsAintSoCommonNow thank you so much!

[@sofp]

Feels so good to listen to a review of people who know what they are talking about

[@JimMagary]

It's so interesting hearing people younger than me (albeit not by much) explain how Bob Dylan entered their musical lives. He gets in there, at some point, for everyone, like the Beatles, like fucking Mozart, he gets in the bloodstream eventually. Every generation.

[@simonmonis5749]

I find Dylan's voice a massive block for me to get into his music sadly. I appreciate the talent, but just can't do his style of singing. So it goes. This movie was pretty enjoyable though!

[@VictorDiGiovanni]

38:13 The best is the scene at the festival where Sylvie is watching Dylan, but Sylvie's friend is watching her.

[@villacamillashow]

thats her sister watching her.. her sister worked for Alan Lomax

[@bebaguette766]

Highway 61 is probably the one with the most classics; there's at least 5 all-timers on it. Out of Time best modern one.

[@DanielGarcia-us7tf]

The power of music cannot be stopped!!!

[@mejbarron]

I first listened to Bob when I was 13 or 14. Then and today, I say to myself, "where do these words come from?" Bob is the One - the greatest poet, singer, performer, and artist of my days.

[@johnnada6855]

Bob Dylan is the ultimate protest singer, like he once said "all that i do is protest", but he is also an artist and not just a protest singer, he did the strongest protest songs ever but that was all what he artistically had to say and could do at that time, he also said that songs make sense at the time and context it were made, that´s why he can´t make another blowing in the wind, cause of course he could copy himself but he as an artist couldn´t make it if it didn´t make sense. The only time i think he actually went back and made protest songs by request were in the 70s with the Joe Jackson and The Hurricane songs, but he felt unconfortable making them, he always said "i don´t pick the songs the songs pick me" and that is a very artist sentence to say, that´s the difference between an artist and a protest singer like Oachs, Seeger, Baez or others, they were not artists

[@ReadingMartin]

The disdain for Wonka is so wrong. If you at least don't find that movie cute and silly, your heart has shriveled and died.

[@flyingpianos123]

Anyone can have their opinion about media and be valid, buuuut Sean is an admitted cynic so just wouldn’t be for him

[@patrickastumpf]

I thought Wonka was delightful. It was funny and had great performances. Had no desire to see a Wonka prequel but I struggle to see why someone would hate it.

[@matthewjcalderon]

One of my favorite lines from the film is when Dylan says “When people ask where the songs come from, they’re really asking why didn’t they come to them instead” or something along that. I think that really sums up how Dylan is feeling during that second part of the film. Loved that.

[@bebo4663]

I’ve been so excited to hear their thoughts!

[@paultosinijaola1653]

I got to work as an extra on A Complete Unknown. It made me eligible for SAG. The scene I did got cut😭😭😂😂 it’s a great film though!!

[@evanrook938]

The hard to cut to the Seeger sign-off where everyone's face is red but Chris and Mal are looking away so hysterics do not ensue took me out

[@justinstoll4955]

Mallory, CR, and Sean should have a regular recurring podcast.

[@VictorDiGiovanni]

Bohemian Rhapsody still holds the record for cutaway shots of the band/producers/girlfriends/promoters turning to the artist as they were singing in worshipful nodding, but this film makes a huge attempt to top it.

[@aynaodriscollphotography4719]

Acu tops in many things here, singing live while filming and using original equipment and instruments is not even comparable

[@democord12]

I have zero attachment to Bob Dylan’s music or fame. Could care less. But this discussion was great.

[@eamonrodgers4751]

It’s couldn’t care less, care less does not make sense, just like you even commenting

[@democord12]

@ but I could care less. If it weren’t for this conversation I could care even less. That’s my point. Meathead.

[@democord12]

@@eamonrodgers4751 But Mr Policeman, I could care less. If not for this very entertaining conversation. You see: that was my point.

[@spriles]

Oh Mercy is so good.

[@RThomasBehnke]

"I was a plate" How did that not get brought up in this pod? LMAO! Easily the part where I laughed out loud the loudest.

[@ansoscran6818]

Love Dylan, and OG Ringer guys.

[@AR-rf6uf]

Great Pod. I've been waiting for this for 18 months. Saw ACU last week in IMAX. I'm very much in the Mallory Rubin//Chris Ryan reaction to this movie. It moved me a ton. I'm just there for it because I love Dylan. 43 years old--so exactly in your wheelhouse. Hope it brings a ton of people to Bob. And nice end of the Pod bringing everyone to Dylan on Film. BTW--I've owned Hearts of Fire for 20 years on VHS. And Sean--yes, Renaldo and Clara was released. It was a trainwreck but Bob financed it all himself--which was a big point of contention in the '78 divorce from Sara. He had to double mortgage the Malibu compound and head out on that incredible '78 world tour in no small part because of the self-financed R&C. First cut was 5 hours. Studio said no, has to be 90 minutes and all music. He said fuck you. He was doing an incredible amount of cocaine in those years and also creating great music--culminating in the sensational Street Legal.

[@AR-rf6uf]

And yes, also confirmed that the last few Tweets are legit all Bob. Jeff Rosen//Kramer confirmed it. All the tweets about him in Prague and running into NJ Devils Players. Dookie Chase's NOL restaurants. And the ACU Tweet are legit just Bob with a phone. Bob Newhart tweet etc.

[@heatherbukowski2102]

damn this piece being on the ringer??? timothee is def gonna hear it and will for sure be returning y'alls call soon! haha

[@YungBizzy1440]

TLDR: Top 0.001% Dylan fan thinks every aspect of the film was perfect, no notes. 5/5 is not good enough.

[@ZJ-ne9kn]

It's good to see Mal. I feel like i haven't seen her on a pod in a while. im sure i just missed one she was on great discussion about Dylan excited too see the film merry Christmas all 😊

[@mchga]

@51:48 which book?

[@logojones96]

Dylan goes electric Elijah wald book that the script is sort of based on

[@mchga]

@@logojones96 ohh ok thanks, I thought they were just using the Scorsese No Direction Home documentary lol

[@patrickastumpf]

​@@mchgaFairly easy to see why you would think that. 😂

[@davidfilmexpert]

Eveyone thinks the Coen brothers movie Inside Llewyn Davis is based on Bob Dylan but it's actually based on his friend Dave Van Ronk. He had a beard like Llewyn Davis and Dylan did not.

[@ruioliveira1832]

I don't know how anyone would think Davis is based on Dylan when there's literally a Dylan character at the end of the movie.

[@davidfilmexpert]

@@ruioliveira1832 I know right! It's a common mistake people make but the film title is literally named after Van Ronk's album Inside Dave Van Ronk. 👉

[@michaelwence690]

I know me and CR were soul mates and he only but confirmed it by saying Blonde on Blonde is his favorite Dylan album

[@bassplayinben]

The movie was great. Could have been so bad and instead was better than I hoped. I put it on par with Oliver Stone's The Doors as the two great music biopics

[@MerkinMuffly]

Now we need a Harry Nilsson movie

[@F5BOTD]

"More than wishes: A Harry Nilsson Story"

[@nellgwenn]

Who Is Harry Nilsson And Why Is Everybody Talking About Him. It's a very good documentary.

[@kylebookout1789]

This is brilliant! Gonna see it tomrrow! Can't wait.

[@shahankery]

can someone get Mal a hair tie

[@marsspacex6065]

60s bob dylan is the da bomb.🎉😊

[@torenoleary8489]

Yes!!!!

[@AlmaG-l8o]

❤❤❤❤❤❤ BOB DYLAN TIMOTHÉE THE MOVIE IT IS AMAZING 👏

[@Bnnycali]

Life long Dylan fanatic. The movie was awesome 👏👏👏. Sean, shame on you.

[@KeithSweat89]

I feel like i’m taking crazy pills

[@benjangles2]

We feel like you are too

[@johnnada6855]

I´m a hardcore fan of Dylan, but since he defends so much his image, it would really be more interesting a Phil Oachs movie, cause his life was openly TRAGIC, and that would be very interesting, the life of a tragic artist is interesting, but of course there is the thing if the family is ok about making a biopic

[@_Waingro]

0:16 Caitlin Clark on the Pod 😋

[@StephenAKatz]

Thank you for an excellent discussion. But what the movie misses, so that you are missing it too and even Pete Seeger apparently missed it at the time, is that Dylan's first album was 60% or more folk rock. Granted he didn't use an electric guitar on that album, but he played folk songs in a way that was completely different from the way any folk singers were singing folk music at that time, because Dylan infused a rock-and-roll element into the traditional folk songs that he sang. Pretty Peggy-0, In My Time of Dyin', See That My Grave Is Kept Clean, You're No Good, Freight Train Blues, and other songs on the first album are all show a rock influence. Now, the first album sold poorly, because it was about four years ahead of what anyone could tolerate. So on Dylan's next album, he produced gentler music that was more like the traditional folk music that other Greenwich Village musicians were singing. And--managed, unlike Joan Baez, by the money-grubbing promoter Albert Grossman--Dylan achieved commercial success with the folk music that he wrote and presented on Freeweelin' and the following albums. So when Dylan went electric in '65 and presented folk rock, no one grasped that in a way it was NOT something new, but rather a return to his original presentations on his first album. By '61 Dylan had already worked out an aesthetic of folk rock. And so the question arises: Was there a sellout, not by Dylan's going electric in '65 as everybody accused him of doing; but a sellout in '62, when Dylan suppressed his desire to create folk rock because his audience wasn't ready for it, and so he gradually played folk music on three albums, until he could carry his audience with him to folk rock in '65? Dylan, on this view, may have sold out because in '62 he suppressed his artistic instincts to create folk rock, and instead gave his audience what it wanted, namely, folk music. (Any accusation of sellout is of course ridiculous, because the songs on Freewheelin and the following albums are so beautiful and compelling. But the question still arises: Was it always in the back of Dylan's mind to return to the folk rock that he had created in '61?) Not just this movie but also many books on Dylan, ignore his first album. As did everyone at the time. And so they were surprised at the Newport Folk Festival by Dylan's producing folk rock. But if they had listened to his first album, they would not have been.

[@chriseden202]

Do you think it’s actually Bob?: “Weird time to be a prolific X user” - “Is he on Blue Sky” 🙄🤦🏻‍♂️

[@revuproar5636]

If you didn't have enough reasons to love Mallory.... she loves Dylan.

[@marvlove]

“LISAN AL GAIB!!” made me spit my coffee 😂😂😂

[@RyanRudominer]

Incredible film!! ❤

[@krupaparasa6613]

They are look so youthful-how old are these guys -

[@patrickastumpf]

Agree with Chris on Blonde on Blonde.

[@jonathandalecki7048]

I cannot possibly overstate how little I care about Bob Dylan. Nothing he's done has ever mattered to me. His singing voice is weird and I hate it. And yet I'm listening to this pod because I like Chris, Sean, and Mallory. Go figure.

[@benjangles2]

Equally ignorant and appreciate, well done.

[@thebacons5943]

You are truly and utterly wrong about Dylan. I implore you to better your soul and then try again.

[@danielhudson5186]

​@thebacons5943 Nah he pretty much nailed it. Guy had a couple of decent tunes at most.

[@kevinborchers3522]

Whats so funny about how subjective music is, no ones singing voice moves me as much as Dylans. I cant count how many times Buckets of Rain has made me cry. Favorite singer by a mile haha

[@kevinborchers3522]

@@danielhudson5186hes my favorite singer by a mile. Blood on the Tracks alone puts him in a league of his own

[@Dirtmcgirt757]

Not having Mallory in the thumbnail had me thinking this was going to be a enjoyable episode 😢

[@stephenallen4625]

do a red rooms pod. movie rules

[@carterkelly2888]

This particular podcast needed a normal person to round it. Wayyy too much glowing hagiographic bullshit.

[@benjangles2]

You suck

[@JP47471]

I hate to do this because I love all 3 of them, but Chalameezy sounds almost exactly like Dylan in the film, imo

[@thebacons5943]

Dylan is a much more talented singer and Chalamet is a much more talented actor.

[@Cpistol744]

If I want to watch a real movie with real actors I’ll be watching Day of the Fight.

[@brysonlozano7]

love you Mal❤

[@dreigivetimpoolmassivewedg7646]

Chalamet loving Simmons kinda confirms the picture of him I had in my mind. That's not necessarily an insult but it certainly isn't a compliment lol.

[@rickr8173]

Sounds like we're going to need a 'Walk Hard' follow up

[@jerrylev59]

"Walk Hard" was a parody of musician biopics, including "Walk the Line", among others. It seems like they confused that a bit. Unintentionally funny, though.

[@johnnada6855]

Somehow i think that the movie "I´m not there" is BETTER, i think "A complete unknown" is a "good" movie, is good on protraiting the "coolness" of the image of Bob Dylan but it is inferior to the Johnny Cash movie cause it doesn´t show personal drama, lots of it is made up, it hints that Dylan had trouble with his family cause he basically runned away from home being a minor, but true fans knows Dylan had lots of darkness in his life, one good movie is for example "Nowhere Boy" about the life of John Lennon, there are hints also in the way Dylan relates to people and also Joan Baez, she was portraited as a selfish narcissist that was obsessed with him just because everybody loved him, and she even took his songs and played before he was known, and it was all in a very shallow and hidden way, you can see what Dylan saw in the leftists and why he rather thought on himself, but you have to be a hardcore fan or really think of it to notice. I´m Not there is a more abstract movie but really focus into his mind and his drama through his life, and that was good, the same happened with the Johnny Cash one, A complete Unknown is too protected by Dylan´s corporation sort of speaking just like No direction home was,

[@jerrylev59]

I haven't yet seen it, but if it doesn't offer more insight into the artist than the best documentaries, it's unnecessary. But I'm getting the impression it does achieve that, to some degree. Not necessarily insight into his inner life, but into his career development and what it was like to have been there. I was alive then, but much too young to have any awareness of it, besides knowing that folk music was popular, especially among the Ivy League campus community of which I lived on the periphery. I was more aware of Pete Seeger and the Kingston Trio than Dylan when I was a wee lad in the early 1960's.

[@killa3x]

Neve liked Dylan. Sucked as a singer. Unsure how lyrics so revolutionary. Never got it.

[@danielhudson5186]

Movie sounds kinda insufferable, like Dylan himself.

[@JohnDoe-uk6si]

Dylan is the 🐐

[@TheDina43]

Mallory in the thumbnail would probably get more views. Just saying

[@Diepdivefilmguy]

Mallory > Amanda

[@andrewrusso4737]

Fortunately, Amanda Dobbins was not on this episode of the Big Picture Podcast. 5/5 stars

[@andyjacobs28]

Guy didn't like Rocket Man or Bohemian Rhapsody. Clueless.

[@benjangles2]

What did you like about Bohemian Rhapsody?

[@benjangles2]

Twas pretty rough...

[@benjangles2]

Rocket Man didn't spend 3 seconds with the dude that wrote Elton's songs... Did you like that both movies avoided the artists' homosexuality? Did it make you feel better?

[@thebacons5943]

those movies are terrible

[@danielhudson5186]

Well Bohemian Rhapsody had the disadvantage of trying to convince the viewer that Queen was a great band.

[@gv02208]

Dylan sucks bros

[@benjangles2]

Great commentary.

[@benjangles2]

Please share your favourite artists, if Dylan sucks. Coming from a hip-hop head.

[@dignity0327]

Why does he suck exactly? And what "artist" can mention that u listen to that even comes cLose to his influence and longevity?

[@thebacons5943]

repent