“A Complete Unknown,” the Bob Bylan biopic starring Timothée Chalamet released Dec. 25, has gotten mostly good reviews, and even the critics who dismissed it praised Chalamet’s performance. As well they should – he agreed to make the film with director James Mangold five years ago, and spent the time between acting jobs learning to play guitar and harmonica well enough to do all his own singing and playing in the movie.
As you can hear in this duet with Monica Barbaro, who plays Joan Baez, Chalamet isn’t doing a strict imitation of early Dylan – every half-decent impressionist can do that – but he does emulate Dylan’s style and timbre.
Here’s his version of “Like a Rolling Stone.” Like other songs in the film, it’s shorter than Dylan’s recording. Today’s movie audiences will only sit still so long.
