'A Complete Unknown' review: Timothée Chalamet mesmerizing as young Bob Dylan

It’s the early 1960s, and a young Bob Dylan is shacking up, as folks used to say, with the belle of Greenwich Village — a fictionalized version of the winsome beauty who would clutch his arm on the cover of "The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan." But they’re arguing. She has told him all about her parents, her life, her past, but he never shares a thing about himself.

"I never asked you about any of it," Dylan snaps. "What, do you think that stuff defines you?"

If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to try to "relate" to Bob Dylan, James Mangold’s aptly titled "A Complete Unknown" offers an answer. This isn’t just another rock biopic (a genre Mangold helped codify with "Walk the Line"), another thesis on Dylan-as-enigma (alongside Todd Haynes’ "I’m Not There") or another boomer hagiography. Focusing on the earliest years of his career, from his galvanizing folk records to the electrified performance that pushed the 1965 Newport Folk Festival to the brink of chaos, "A Complete Unknown" argues that Dylan had to define himself, utterly and repeatedly. It’s a movie about artistic evolution, the courage it requires and the personal price it exacts.

At its heart is a mesmerizing Timothée Chalamet as Dylan. He’s a perfect choice physically: slender, tousled, dreamy. But from the moment his Dylan arrives in New York City — dressed in hobo-chic, with faded knapsack and rough-woven scarf — it’s clear this performance isn’t going to be a mere impersonation. Whether singing Dylan’s classic tunes ("Blowin’ in the Wind," "Like a Rolling Stone") or tossing off cryptic witticisms at parties, Chalamet exudes the wry, sly aura that made Dylan the epitome of counterculture cool.

Based on Elijah Wald’s 2015 book, "Dylan Goes Electric!" and made with Dylan’s blessing, "A Complete Unknown" touches on many iconic moments, from the proto-music video for "Subterranean Homesick Blues" to the recording sessions for "Highway 61 Revisited." But Mangold and co-writer Jay Cocks also explore Dylan’s romances with fellow folk star Joan Baez (a convincing Monica Barbaro) and the activist Sylvie Russo (an excellent Elle Fanning, in a role modeled on the real-life Suze Rotolo). Mangold beautifully captures the irresistible chemistry of Dylan-Baez and the mutual infatuation of Dylan-Russo, yet both women will be left in the dust. Just as heartbroken is activist-folksinger Pete Seeger (Edward Norton), who ushers Dylan into New York’s folk scene only to find himself banished to Squaresville when the rock revolution arrives.

Plugging in at Newport — a thrilling, furious sequence that Mangold milks for all it's worth — might seem like a tempest in a teapot today. But it was more than just a middle finger to the folk purists. The year before, Dylan had already written the line that would serve as his lifelong statement of purpose: "He not busy being born is busy dying."

By Rafer Guzmán

rafer.guzman@newsday.com@raferguzman