Bob Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, is a legendary musician who needs no introduction, but “A Complete Unknown” attempts to give him one anyway. This biopic from director James Mangold chronicles the earliest years of Dylan’s career leading up to his performance at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival.

As the story being told here is half a century old, a lot of work had to go into making this film feel authentic. The sets, costume design and performance choices go a long way to build an aesthetic of a bygone world. This effort was extremely necessary as it immediately immerses you in the story. For nearly two and a half hours, this illusion is never broken.

The editing style complements this illusion as it is mostly minimal throughout the film outside of scenes of high tension or rapid change. This makes it feel closer to a film of its era as it doesn’t try to emulate the erratic style of other recent successful biopics like “Elvis” or “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Everything is more subtle in this film, which gives it a strong identity. In fact, this makes the story feel closer to Dylan’s work as neither the film nor his music are immediately flashy and both require you to engage with the experience.

This is Mangold’s second biopic based on a musician following his 2005 “Walk the Line” about Johnny Cash — who briefly appears in this film. “A Complete Unknown” differs from that film as Dylan is the sole focus of the story being told, with everyone else taking a backseat to his ballad. This allows the film to tell one straightforward story, but it removes a level of nuance. While there’s complexity in the story with the film’s portrayal of a critical view of Dylan’s actions, this all appears to be from Dylan’s perspective whether retroactive or in the moment.

Timothée Chalamet’s stellar performance significantly advances the film, as he completely dials into the persona of Dylan throughout the entire runtime. While Chalamet does not look like Dylan, nor does he sound like him, there is a sense of charm to his performance that reflects Dylan’s perceived character. It feels as if he is channeling his own idea of Dylan into his performance which makes the inaccuracies seem more intentional. None of this comes off as wholly exaggerated and if you have no idea who Dylan is outside of this film, you probably won’t notice the differences.

Chalamet’s performance works because he never dispels the mystique around Dylan. He molds the artist’s persona as Dylan comes into his stage presence. With the gradual build in the security of Dylan’s character, Chalamet’s performance improves. This works well because the complexity in character development is never explicitly shown to the audience — it is something that becomes apparent through watching the film.

Next to Chalamet’s performance, Dylan’s music is an integral part of this film’s DNA. It even derives its title from the lyrics of Dylan’s song, “Like a Rolling Stone.” There is rarely a scene in this film where Dylan isn’t either composing or performing one of his iconic songs, and structurally, these all build the foundation for the film’s overarching narrative. Since Dylan already had a large catalog even early in his career, there was a lot for this film to choose from. All of the song choices not only showcase some of Dylan’s best work, but they also fit well into the film thematically.

As Chalamet actually covered all of Dylan’s songs in the film, these moments also highlight the quality of his performance. The roughness of Chalamet’s vocals makes his performance feel more authentic as the songs feel more personal to him. This effect would be completely absent if he had simply lip-synced Dylan’s performances.

The supporting characters Pete Seeger (Edward Norton), Sylvie Russo (Elle Fanning) and Joan Baez (Monica Barbaro) feel fleshed out beyond their association with Dylan. The characters’ chemistry is truly the highlight of the film as each interaction leaves you with much to think about. Norton as Chalamet’s mentor, Fanning as his distant love and Barbaro as something in between, all deliver nuanced performances that bring life to real people that would otherwise fade into the background of a weaker film.

Barbaro’s performance stands out as her portrayal of Baez could have been stretched out into a movie of its own. Though she has the least presence out of the supporting characters, she stands out as the most actualized portrayal. Baez doesn’t just seem like Dylan’s lover, she emerges as a star in her own right. This allows her to serve as both a foil and motivation for Dylan. She brings out many emotions inside of him as she does for the audience. When she and Chalamet are paired together both in and out of song, you can feel the shared history between Baez and Dylan.

Overall, these three central relationships serve to both make you sympathize with and scold Dylan for his reckless behavior as a young man. There are sweet moments and there are sour moments, but what’s consistent is that you can feel the bond they share with Dylan even when he pushes them away. Since everyone is meant to represent a real person, the film is careful to not characterize anyone. All of their relationship problems feel real and complicated. Although there are more details not depicted in this film, these characters feel like fair portrayals that do justice to these figures within Dylan’s life.

“A Complete Unknown” is not a spectacle. You won’t learn much about Zimmerman through this film, but you will come to know Dylan in his stardom which proves to be the film’s biggest strength.

Still there are some drawbacks in the film. There is no dramatic rise and fall nor is the ending immediately satisfying. Most of Dylan’s rise to fame happens off-screen, and the climax that the film takes so long to build up to amounts to Chalamet simply picking up an electric guitar and delivering a performance of some of Dylan’s most iconic songs. While this seems redundant as Dylan’s strength as a performer has already been heavily documented, “A Complete Unknown” delivers a sincere attempt at retelling Dylan’s story that makes the experience worth it.

Where other biopics serve to deconstruct or revere their subjects, “A Complete Unknown” plays into the mythos of Dylan’s career by delivering a heartfelt depiction of his celebrity persona and not the man underneath.

Rating: 4/5