Story Movie
1965. At the Newport Music Festival, a performance by a young Bob Dylan causes a sensation.
Review 4K Movie
I can't say I'm a fan of Bob Dylan. Yes, I know what he's famous for, I know some of his songs, and the fact that he recently won the Nobel Prize for Literature, everyone knows that. And yet, when they make a new biopic about a famous musician, you get interested. And after watching it, you go out stunned, because you experience a sea of impressions and remain in complete delight!
1961. A young boy named Bob Dylan comes to New York with a guitar to meet his idol Woody Guthrie. That's when he meets singer Peter Seeger, who is pushing hard to promote folk music in America. Both Peter and the seriously ill Woody are impressed by the talent of the young performer, and Bobby is already playing in clubs and folk festivals, recording records and getting acquainted with outstanding folk singers. His music is inspiring, his lyrics make you think, and Bob himself in his 23 and a little gets the title of “Voice of a Generation”. And now that he's reached the top, Dylan is eager to move away from folk music in a completely different direction, something that Peter and other folk singers are seriously opposed to.
I think I'm not the only one who has noticed a common trend in biopics about musical performers - namely how they develop. It starts with the performer's youth (sometimes with a difficult childhood), then his gradual rise to fame, recognition and crazy fans, then always the test of fame in the form of addictions, self-destruction, rehabilitation, and after all this - a resounding comeback. Of course, all of this is exaggerated, but by and large, this is the kind of scripted framework most biopics are built on. What makes James Mangold's movie different from them all, though? It still has many of those elements, but it still feels like it's developing in a less standardized way. That's largely because it's a narrative about the very beginning of Bob Dylan's career (and he had over 50 years of performing career ahead of him), and the high-profile event that usually symbolizes the second wave of popularity here was the transition from folk on acoustic guitar and harmonica to rock music and electric guitar. This event was so loud and resonant that there is a Wikipedia page devoted to it - a fact that struck me directly. And the fact that such an article exists only confirms its importance (and not only for the music world). All this path is shown in the movie, though concisely (as it usually happens in biopics), but so exciting that you forget about time (personally, I was so immersed in the movie that it was as if I lived these few years, watching the career of young Dylan).
One of the main reasons you watch movies about popular artists is because you want to hear their famous songs. After watching Perfect Stranger and listening to the lyrics, it's clear why Dylan won the Nobel Prize in Literature: it's just amazing what deep (sometimes philosophical) meaning is in his songs, and the fact that they resonated so much with the times when everything in the world was changing... And you can hear hits like Mr. Tambourine Man, the almost youthful sound of a future revolutionary, Masters of War, the scene of which was literally a thunderstorm in a storm, Blowin in the Wind, a tender duet between two folk singers, The Times They Are a-Changin', which perfectly illustrates Dylan's title as the “Voice of a Generation”, and finally Like a Rolling Stone, a line from which gave the movie its title, and which revolutionized the screen and life.
Having Timothee Chalamet in the lead role was another incentive to see the movie: his casting is a definite win. One of the brightest actors in an equally outstanding role 60 years earlier. His Bob Dylan is still so young, but so talented that he just couldn't go unnoticed. He bribes us with the fact that he is not interested in fame per se. He just wants to perform his philosophical songs, accompanying himself on guitar and playing harmonica (the fact that Shalame performed all the songs himself is another plus - he falls in love with himself from the very first song dedicated to his hero Woody Guthrie). And even after becoming a legend before he turned 25, Dylan wants to hide from all that fame, singing what he wants to sing, not what his friends and fans expect of him. At times he seems detached, indifferent to both life and his lovers, having lost interest in everything. And it seems that what happened at the Newport Folk Festival is exactly what was to shake up not only Dylan's musical career, but also his own, to make him truly free. It is simply impossible to take your eyes off of Chalamet - he plays, sings and performs self-consciously and mesmerizingly. Nominations for all sorts of awards are absolutely deserved (this guy will get his Oscar someday!).
Accompanying him are characters who each have a Wikipedia article: Is his girlfriend Sylvie Russo (Elle Fanning), who is based on Susie Rotolo, who appeared on the cover of The Freewheelin Bob Dylan album, and who understood how difficult it was to be the lover of such a performer; Peter Seeger (Edward Norton), a folk music singer and popularizer who became Bobby's friend and mentor, and worried about him losing his way with folk; Joan Baez (Monica Barbaro), a folk singer experiencing a complicated relationship with Dylan, both professionally and personally (but she sang marvelously - especially enjoyed her rendition of House of Rising Sun); Woody Guthrie (Scoot McNairy), a prominent folk singer, now living in a hospital room due to his terminal illness, who literally lives the music of his friends; Johnny Cash (Boyd Holbrook), a country singer, one of those revolutionaries in music (which must have inspired Bob to do something like this).
Nobody Knows or Perfect Stranger is a movie that amazes, a movie that inspires, a movie that stuns, and a movie that enchants. The movie left me enthralled - after the movie, I immediately put all the main songs on repeat listening. Without a doubt, the movie fulfilled its primary purpose of encouraging modern audiences to listen to, heed, and love the music of Bob Dylan.
[/full-link]
