On Christmas Day, the newest biopic, A Complete Unknown, hit theaters. The film covers the early rise to stardom of Bob Dylan, as well as his transition from folk music to rock. The movie comes as part of an ongoing trend in Hollywood: the biopic. As studios struggle to come up with original ideas, they often turn to making a biopic for some easy cash. Recently, theaters have been overrun with musical biopics. I think this trend has outstayed its welcome.
In the past few years, there seems to have been a dramatic increase in the number of films about important musicians: Bohemian Rhapsody in 2018, Rocketman in 2019, Elvis in 2022, Bob Marley: One Love Last Spring, and now A Complete Unknown. These films are by no means bad. They are well-acted, produced, written, directed, and everything else. Unfortunately, these films are starting to become derivative of one another. “Of course they are similar,” one might say, “they follow the same basic story of a rise to popularity!” That is exactly where my problem falls.
I believe that studios are leaning on musical biopics to make easy cash, instead of making these films out of true creative ambition. This belief is solidified by A Complete Unknown. When I saw the film in theaters with my family on Christmas day, every seat was full. I hadn’t seen such crowds since Spider-Man: No Way Home; it was honestly very surprising. Looking around the theater, it was clear my family was not the target audience of the film, as most of the audience was made up of individuals over the age of 60.
After the film ended, I heard many passing comments such as “Oh this scene reminded me of when” or “I remember when that happened,” which finally allowed me to realize what many people found so engaging about the movie: its setting. Nostalgia is not a bad thing, but in the case of films like A Complete Unknown, I feel as though nostalgia is being manipulated to create a “good” movie in the minds of its older viewers.
I do want to make it clear that I think A Complete Unknown is a fine movie. It is likely going to get nominated for many Academy Awards as it has already been a powerhouse at the Golden Globes, and Timothée Chalamet will also probably receive his first Oscar for his performance as Dylan. The film, in my opinion, just has nothing new to say. At least with some other recent musical biopics, there is an interesting idea or technique presented. Rocketman, which follows the life of Elton John, is basically a musical featuring the artist’s extensive discography. At many points throughout the story, massive dance numbers would erupt to the tune of Elton’s classics. That was something unique. A Complete Unknown has no such aspect.
Furthermore, I find the film’s central arc to be unimportant in the grand scheme of things. Most biopics follow a large portion of an artist’s life, often showing the viewer how the artist got to the point they are today. The “controversy” plot point in every biopic happens early on normally, where an artist must grapple with something that the public finds controversial, only to come back bigger and better after the fact. A Complete Unknown’s entire story revolves around a single controversy, one that really isn’t consequential: Bob Dylan’s shift in the musical genre.
Nothing is shown about Dylan’s life, his motivations, where he went after his early career, or anything else relating to the character of Dylan. After watching A Complete Unknown, I honestly felt like I knew less about Bob Dylan’s life than before. I mean that seriously. The film’s small scope does not help its case.
Overall, I had an average time at A Complete Unknown. I would rate the film a 5/10; however, the movie represents something I’m getting tired of as a movie fan. Even now, just a few weeks after A Complete Unknown’s release, Better Man, the biopic about Robbie Williams, just released. A Michael Jackson biopic is coming out later this year, and many more biopics are entering production, such as a Beatles biopic and a Bruce Springsteen biopic. In my opinion, there are just too many musical biopics coming out. Hopefully, studios can allocate more funds to new and more interesting projects in the future instead of rehashing this uninteresting, but incredibly lucrative business model.
