On Christmas Day, I saw the Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown. It left me wanting more as it only covered Dylan's life from 1961 to 1965. A great deal happened in his life happened after 1965:
Bob Dylan was truly only just beginning in 1965. He continued his electric play with The Band picking up where the Paul Butterfield Blues Band left off. From there, he would have his motorcycle accident, settle in Woodstock, make amends with Pete Seeger, dig into country music (which brings Cash back into the picture), his return to political activism (i.e. Chile and Reuben "Hurricane" Carter) and the Rolling Thunder Revue. I could easily envision a sequel or two additional films to cover Dylan's life between 1965 and 1976. A working title for such a film could be Keep on Keeping On (or perhaps Positively 4th Street and Tangled Up in Blue if two more films were in order).
The question is whether Chalamet would be prepared to reprise his role as Dylan even at a different stage of his life. The same could be said of several of his co-stars. After all, Dylan is depicted as not wanting to play "Blowin' in the Wind" forever. I'm sure Chalamet wants to move on to other projects. Then again if Chalamet can play Paul Atreides in Dune more than once it is entirely possible that he could play Robert Zimmerman once more.
Should this come to pass, I would likely need to wait a few years. Until then, I will probably end up seeing A Complete Unknown again before it leaves theatres.
So, last night, I made my way back to the Kendall Square Cinema to see A Complete Unknown again. This is significant because it marks the first time that I've seen a movie during its initial run in the theaters since Pulp Fiction 30 years ago when I saw it in both Canada and in the U.K.
I wouldn't claim that A Complete Unknown is quite on the same level as Pulp Fiction much less be talked about in the same way Pulp Fiction is now circa 2054-2055. Nevertheless, there is something compelling about A Complete Unknown which motivated me to see it again above and beyond the desire to get out of the house on a Saturday night.
There is my lifelong love of Dylan's music as well as the music of that era and that we have it out in the open in the public domain in a major motion picture in 2024. We now live in a time where the 1980's, the 1990's and even the 2000's are viewed with nostalgia and, for the most part, it just doesn't resonate with me in a meaningful way. For me, when it comes to music, movies and TV, I pine for the late 1960's and early 1970's.
I am mindful of the fact that the events of A Complete Unknown take place before I came into the world. But Dylan's peak also covers the early years of my life and albums like Blood on the Tracks and Desire were played around the house in the time they were released, and I remember those times. Granted, I was a toddler but Dylan's music from the mid-1970s (along with the Nashville Skyline album from 1969) comprise some of my earliest memories. The sounds from those Bob Dylan albums are hardwired into my mind, heart and soul. A movie like A Complete Unknown keeps the hardwiring in circulation and in working order.
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