In viewing A Complete Unknown, I must admit to remaining mystified that rock biopics continue to get made at all in the wake of Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, the hysterically funny and tragically underseen 2007 parody of basically every rockstar biopic ever made. Indeed, so comprehensive is its satire that the titular Cox even goes through his own Dylan phase, during which he spouts pure gibberish and his own bandmates cannot figure out what is going on. The mystification is compounded by the fact that director and co-writer James Mangold had previously made Walk the Line, a biopic of Johnny Cash and primary reference text for Walk Hard. One has to wonder whether the present film is a deliberate provocation or whether he just doesn’t care. 

Interestingly, Bob Dylan has not previously been the subject of a biopic, unless one counts the pretentious I’m Not There, in which Dylan’s multiplicity is represented by having him portrayed by no fewer than half a dozen different actors and probably most notable for its title bringing new attention to one of his greatest unreleased tracks. That said, there has been no shortage of cinematic representations of the man, including the one he directed himself, 1975’s Renaldo and Clara — a nearly unwatchable four-hour extravaganza in which an incomprehensible plot was married to what are admittedly some fiery live performances from the Rolling Thunder Revue shows. Though the most memorable of these probably remain Don’t Look Back and Eat the Document, D. A. Pennebaker’s documentary treatments of his stormiest period, the early electric tours of 1965 and 1966.