A Complete Unknown Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		5.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.5

A Complete Unknown Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 29, 2025

It's almost incredible in a way to think of a show business icon like Bob Dylan lasting as long as he has in a roiling industry without amassing the veritable "baggage" many stars of Dylan's general stature manage to rack up in terms of accruing scandals. Yes, there was an ultimately dropped accusation of supposed sexual abuse of a minor that ostensibly took place in 1965, though it's notable that even that controversy didn't start being litigated until 2021 (it was over by 2022). In just the first of two unintended ironies with that obviously troubling situation, the accuser was identified in court documents with the acronym J.C., which may somewhat hilariously remind fans of Dylan of his "conversion" to Christianity in the late seventies, something that at least for some, um, followers seemed perhaps a little "scandalous", or at least artistically questionable. But the second irony of the sexual abuse accusation is the year of its assumed occurrence, namely the above mentioned 1965. It's at least arguable that the single biggest "scandal" of Dylan's long and legendary life and career was his decision that year to forgo the pleasant blandishments of acoustic folk music instrumentation to start experimenting with (the horror!) electric guitars, something that (also probably more than merely slightly hilariously) made him a pariah for a rather large swath of music lovers, at least for a little while.

A 19 year old still known as Robert Zimmerman (Timothée Chalamet, Academy Award nominated for this performance) hitchhikes into New York City in search of his idol, Woody Guthrie (Scoot McNairy). Guthrie is actually mortally ill and close to death, and Zimmerman (soon of course to be officially renamed Bob Dylan in 1962) finds him in a New Jersey hospital where he's being kept company by Pete Seeger (Edward Norton, Academy Award nominated for this performance). Dylan (as I'll refer to him for the rest of this review) plays a tune of his for the vaunted pair, and Seeger almost immediately becomes a mentor of sorts for the younger singer-songwriter. That relationship soon leads to introductions to other nascent stars like Joan Baez (Monica Barbaro, Academy Award nominated for this performance), along with a manager named Albert Grossman (Dan Fogler).

The evolution of popular music in the post World War II era probably deserves its own film, or at least its own documentary, but it may be salient to acknowledge how things morphed from the Big Band Era of the thirties and forties to solo vocalists (still typically backed up by large orchestras) in the fifties, which by the end of that decade had given way to fledgling rock 'n' roll, which could be offered either by putative solo artists (a la Elvis) or leaders with bands (a la Buddy Holly and the Crickets or Bill Haley and the Comets). Throughout these changes, so called "folk music" had been bubbling in the background the whole time, as evidenced at the very least by Guthrie's own life and career, but things really started to explode around what might be called the change from the Eisenhower to the Kennedy era. Part of that change may have been the added "message" element that folk music often offered, something that may have especially appealed to the generation the veritable torch had been passed to in the verbiage of JFK.

If the "message" might therefore be seen to subsume any ostensible "medium" (to paraphrase Marshall McLuhan), that might seem to make Dylan's decision to play an electric guitar positively irrelevant, which may provide some unexpected humor in the film courtesy of jaded hindsight. In terms of the zeitgeist of 1965 vis a vis the use of electric guitars (and/or other instruments) in "folk" music, though, it's interesting to note that Dylan actually had his first Top 40 single (if only barely) with Subeterranean Homesick Blues in April of that year, with electric guitar accompaniment (if not by him personally), some three months before his Newport performance that is an ostensible climax of this film. It's also absolutely fascinating to me, inveterate "chart geek" that I am, that according to one of Joel Whitburn's indispensable aggregations of Billboard data, Dylan actually hit the number 2 position with Like a Rolling Stone on July 24, 1965, the very day he first appeared at Newport, which would suggest that any "controversy" may not have pervaded to the general public. In a wider sense, though, it's also notable that within just a couple more months, a band virtually synonymous with "electric folk (rock)", The Byrds, would hit number 1 with their version of Turn Turn Turn, with a lyric famously adapted by none other than Pete Seeger. This is all to suggest that whatever intermittent roiling quality there may have been, as had already happened several times before as described above, popular music, in this case folk giving way to rock, was once again changing, probably inevitably.

Those very facts may hint at a certain slack that has to be granted the film, at least insofar as it offers some kind of conflict or suspense. Putting that aside, though (which is actually ultimately rather easy to do), the film is a really lovingly performed document of a soon to be legendary artist and a coterie of equally iconic "supporting" characters making their way through both personal and professional challenges. Kind of weirdly, though evidently at the real life Dylan's request, his "major squeeze" of the time is given the fictional name of Sylvie Russo (Elle Fanning), based on Suze Rotolo.

A Complete Unknown Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

A Complete Unknown is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Searchlight Pictures and Disney / Buena Vista with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. Though this was captured with Sony CineAlta cameras, it has been given a look much more reminiscent of film with a frequently pretty gritty looking digital grain field, though the addition of that may be just a bit more subliminal in this 1080 presentation than in the simultaneously released 4K UHD version. That said, as can often be the case, I'd recommend those interested with the appropriate equipment to opt for the 4K UHD release, as both detail levels and especially some nice palette highlights are arguably improved in that format. That said, those with "only" 1080 players are going to get a sumptuous presentation of their own. Detail levels are typically excellent throughout, aided by Mangold tending to frequently frame things in midrange or close up, and textures on all of the midcentury props and costumes is outstanding. I will say the Dolby Vision and HDR grades available on the 4K UHD disc probably help to improve shadow detail in some of the darkest moments, including some of the live performance scenes, like some dimly lit club material with Joan Baez. There are some subtle grading choices on display and some burnished yellow tones in particular are quite evocative.

A Complete Unknown Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

I'm scoring the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track on this disc at 4.5 in order to give me a little "room" to score the 4K UHD disc's Dolby Atmos track at 5.0, but this is all obviously relative, and I say without any sense of compromise that those without Atmos systems will still get a wonderfully immersive listening experience with the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 version. There is appealingly consistent engagement of the side and rear channels throughout the narrative, and not just with regard to the musical sections, which in and of themselves are really impressive and enough on their own to recommend the track. The urban setting of several scenes, or even just the background clamor of a swingin' (can folk music venues swing?) night club provide great opportunities for clearly directional effects in the side and rear channels. Dialogue is presented cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English, French and Spanish subtitles are available.

A Complete Unknown Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• The Making of A Complete Unknown (HD; 23:50) is a good set of EPK featurettes with some interesting interviews and candid footage. James Mangold serves as a veritable tour guide.


• Audio Commentary by James Mangold

Searchlight sent their 4K UHD release for purposes of this 1080 review, but it looks like this standalone 1080 release has a digital copy and is packaged with a slipcover.

A Complete Unknown Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

It may be that A Complete Unknown will inevitably call up memories in some viewers of Bound for Glory, and in that regard, it sure seems to me that the life and career of Pete Seeger is certainly deserving of a film biography as much as Dylan and/or Woody, though there is a really good documentary about him called Pete Seeger: The Power of Song. Pete was a longtime friend of my late uncle, a guy who had fought with the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. Much later in life my uncle achieved a great deal of success in real estate, so much so that after he died his foundation funded a traveling exhibit of Abraham Lincoln Brigade artifacts that Pete actually accompanied, in both senses of the word, touring with the exhibit and playing for people who came to see it. For those interested, Smithsonian Folkways has released a number of Pete's Spanish Civil War related performances (like this one), but one of the other Smithsonian Folkways albums documenting the songs of the Spanish Civil War, in this case songs actually sung by ALB vets being held as prisoners of war in Spain, has a wonderful cover photo including my uncle cutting a rakish profile standing in his white trenchcoat on the right. The political aspect of the music of both Seeger and Guthrie at least suffuses this film, though it's kind of fascinating to see how that "critique" approach morphed under the influence of Dylan's muse. The actual "McGuffin" of this film may frankly be almost hilarious to really think about, but putting the "shocking" (pun intended) use of electric guitar aside, A Complete Unknown serves as a really winning document not just of an artist's early development, but also as a chronicle of a radically changing landscape, not necessarily limited to the world of music. Technical merits are solid, and the two supplements appealing. Highly recommended.