ktokuno

As someone who has watched an uncountable number of Japanese films and been to Japan four times, no to mention being a third generation Japanese American, I was very impressed by this film. It is the most authentic depiction of the interface of Western and Japanese culture that I've ever seen and that includes the recent Shogun series, Ramen Girl and Lost in Translation.

Others have written about the plot and it is multi-layered with some deep moral lessons, starting with the basic premise of an actor who is fundamentally moral who chooses or rather is chosen to be inauthentic in portraying false family members. Brendan Fraser is excellent in the way he establishes his character's morals early on and continues to struggle with his lies through most of the movie. The screen writing is Oscar worthy. This is a sad, happy, poignant film which also teaches one a lot about the Japanese culture.

Bob Dylan's life is important because he is arguably the greatest songwriter America has ever produced. The slice of this life portrayed in "A Complete Unknown is important not only because of its study of his start in the music business, but for the culmination of the 1965 Newport Folk Festival. Dylan was an icon of the recent revival of folk music in this country. That revival began in 1958 with such groups as the Kingston Trio and Joan Baez. It's rising popularity was in some ways attributable to the reaction against rock. Many people wanted America to return to its roots. Between Dylan's' songwriting and groups such as Peter, Paul and Mary and the New Christie Minstrels, folk music's revival had peaked in 1965. But many folk's fans held rock and its electric sounds in contempt. Dylan's effort to electrify folk music at eh 1965 Newport Festival was thus a critical statement in blending folk and rock in w ay that shaped music for decades. This film does an outstanding job of illustrating that tension and his shows impact.

The acting is first rate. All of the actors do an amazing job of replicating the original singers. There was no dubbing here. There is no way that any of them could provide an exact replica of Dylan, Baez, Johnny Cash or Peter Seeger, but their renditions all provided a credible exhibition of the originals' styles. Ed Norton as Pete Seeger nearly become Seeger. Both Timothee Chalamet and Monica Barbara as Joan Baez also show some nice guitar work that makes it clear that they are really playing.

My complaints are two and minor. The first half of the film is paced a bit too fast so it feels like something is being skipped over and left out. Second, there are too many shots of the actresses looking at Dylan with a gaze that is ambiguous in what it is supposed to convey. I was not sure what the director, James Mangold, was trying to show us with those frequent and extended shots.