One of the most anticipated new films of this Christmas season has been A Complete Unknown, the folk music film that features Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan. The film culminates with his infamous performance at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965, which is exactly the year that Dylan began participating in what would become Don’t Look Back. The D.A. Pennebaker film differentiates itself from other Dylan documentaries and concert films (Martin Scorsese’s excellent No Direction Home and Rolling Thunder Revue, Jennifer LeBeau’s Trouble No More and her film with John Hillcoat, Bob Dylan: Odds and Ends). It’s a perfect “portrait of the artist as a young man,” and while it captures some incredible music, it’s more about Dylan’s persona and PR.
’A Complete Unknown’ may be getting attention, but D.A. Pennebaker’s ‘Don’t Look Back’ is the best Dylan movie. Read More