'Look Out Kid', Dylan Biopic coming in hot

[MikoTython]

The critics are disjointing themselves clapping/shouting/howling about the greatness of this film, Chalamet's performance - raining down a deluge of Oscar expectations. At any right, hype aside, I'll be sure to see it, look forward to it (Christmas-time release) :

"...it has won rave reviews on social media. “Timothée Chalamet slides into Bob Dylan with an effortless yet focused determination,” wrote Variety’s senior awards editor, Clayton Davis. “He is fearless in some hypnotic moments.”

Meanwhile reviewer David Poland praised Chalamet’s “enormous power” and Gregory Ellwood called the film “superb” and “shockingly moving”, adding: “Chalamet is fantastic.”

Chalamet “delivers the performance of the year”, said fellow critic Scott Menzel. “The film is a true tour de force … Chalamet’s performance is not just about the voice and look but rather all of the little nuances and mannerisms that he perfectly brings to life.”

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/n ... te-unknown

[George Zipp]

Yes, but will we have the sing alongs like wicked?

I'm a Dylan wonk so I'll see this. I find these musical bios to be hit and miss. Movies like Ray, fantastic. The Elvis bio pic was a waste of 2 hrs and 40 minutes. Hope the critics are right here.

[MikoTython]

Here is the best doc I've encountered on Dylan's life, impact, qualities :

Disclaimer: The video above is hosted on Youtube, and has not be reviewed by the staff of the Post-Dispatch.

[MikoTython]

Caught it at the late show last nite. Chalumet did a very credible job channeling our young hero, quite seriously. The actress who played Baez is a. gorgeous, and b. has a much lovelier voice (to me) than the original.

What I like most about this film is the faint hope that exposing the young to Dylan's early massively significant work provides some inspiration - seeds on soil - its rockiness tbd.

I'm not an expert on every twist & turn in Dylan's life, but from what I do know, most of this rang fairly true, including his visits to Woody at the hospital in the beginning, the scene at Newport at the end, his close bond w/ Johnny Cash from early days, the hard-core lefty folkies trying to keep him in a box.

[Pink Freud]

I'm going out on a limb here and hoping that Chalamet is a more convincing Dylan than was Cate Blanchett.

[Dicktar2023]

I liked it quite a bit. It is a very conventional Hollywood music biopic, so if that's not your bag, don't bother. But the magnetic and astonishing performance by young Timmy can't be overlooked. Dylan is so iconically weird that it would have been easy to portray him as the totally inaccessible genius who mumbles some gibberish and then sings a great song. But Chalamet has so thoroughly digested Dylan's encyclopedia of odd mannerisms and eccentricities that they stop seeming odd. Talk about disappearing into a role.

Besides the performances, I really loved the way the musical life is presented. Dylan, and Pete Seeger and Joan Baez and Mike Bloomfield...These are people who get on each other's nerves, but they all love music, and they take any chance to pick up a guitar or a harmonica and start playing--and then somebody else joins in. Movies spend so much time presenting musicians as tortured artists drowning their childhood with a bottle of whiskey that they often forget that, here in the real world, music-makers love making music. It's a refreshing and exhilarating choice.

The big misstep IMO is Elle Fanning as a version of Dylan's pre-fame girlfriend Suze Rotolo. Fanning is not a good actress, and the character is a big nothing. If only she'd delivered her inevitable "I'll just never be part of this world, Bob" an hour earlier, they could have spent more time on Dylan's famously tumultuous relationship with Baez (played here by a fiery Monica Barbaro). They barely scratch the surface.

But, overall, one of the best movies of the year.

[edwin drood]

I liked it quite a bit. It is a very conventional Hollywood music biopic, so if that's not your bag, don't bother. But the magnetic and astonishing performance by young Timmy can't be overlooked. Dylan is so iconically weird that it would have been easy to portray him as the totally inaccessible genius who mumbles some gibberish and then sings a great song. But Chalamet has so thoroughly digested Dylan's encyclopedia of odd mannerisms and eccentricities that they stop seeming odd. Talk about disappearing into a role.

Besides the performances, I really loved the way the musical life is presented. Dylan, and Pete Seeger and Joan Baez and Mike Bloomfield...These are people who get on each other's nerves, but they all love music, and they take any chance to pick up a guitar or a harmonica and start playing--and then somebody else joins in. Movies spend so much time presenting musicians as tortured artists drowning their childhood with a bottle of whiskey that they often forget that, here in the real world, music-makers love making music. It's a refreshing and exhilarating choice.

The big misstep IMO is Elle Fanning as a version of Dylan's pre-fame girlfriend Suze Rotolo. Fanning is not a good actress, and the character is a big nothing. If only she'd delivered her inevitable "I'll just never be part of this world, Bob" an hour earlier, they could have spent more time on Dylan's famously tumultuous relationship with Baez (played here by a fiery Monica Barbaro). They barely scratch the surface.

But, overall, one of the best movies of the year.

One of my favorite Dylan songs is Boots of Spanish Leather, supposedly inspired by Rotolo's decision to leave NY, move to Europe and pursue her dream of a career in art. Here it is performed by Andrew Marlin and Emily Franz, aka Mandolin Orange, now Watchhouse. The song has been covered dozens of times but, to my knowledge, never by a male-female duo. Quite appropriate as the lyrics are a conversation between a man and a woman who's leaving him.

https://youtu.be/iOHkyZ62jjQ?si=tY_ZkxH_OM4jYXNv

[MikoTython]

In my non-expert opinion, Rotolo had a lot more agency than this character as depicted to half-arrsed represent her. Plus, she looked like a 30 year old sorority sister. Dylan had a knock-down drag-out fight w/ Rotolo's older sister during the break-up, inspiring a song he never sings, which is sad and beautiful :

Disclaimer: The video above is hosted on Youtube, and has not be reviewed by the staff of the Post-Dispatch.