Thanks for the great review John, first-time reader here, I guess that's why Notes is maybe a good thing after all! I saw the movie just yesterday with my partner and my 20-year musical son. We all loved the film as a film but... as someone who has written extensively about this era himself, I....
...Well, we all have our breaking point with a biopic if we know anything about its subject matter. For me, that point came early in Bohemian Rhapsody, but was happily suspended for Rocket Man, which declared itself as what someone else in the comments section here refers to as a "MGM Musical" in its first few minutes. One Love was surprisingly and refreshingly true to history.
I am with you in that my breaking point came with Newport 65. You seem particularly aggrieved by the Judas heckle, but others below note the sheer overload: Johnny Cash (not there!), Suze/Sylvie (not there!), the fight between what Albert Grossman and what I assume to be George Wein, and for me, especially, it was the audience hurling objects at the stage. This was not a punk rock gig in in 1977. This was Newport 65, where folk fans behaved, and we may never truly truly know how much of the booing was merely down to the bad sound, but as you note, it was met by an equal amount of applause. Indeed, just this Dec 23rd I went to the same cinema I saw A Complete Unknown at yesterday, sat in the same seat more or less, and watched the Murray Lerner footage of Bob at Newport 63-65 (The Other Side of The Mirror) and was fascinated overall. The reaction to Maggie's Farm is so contradictory it's amazing.
But in short, I agree with your overview. Ed Norton stole the film and hopefully gets a nod in the awards for doing so. Other characters likewise. And as for Tim, well as you point out, trying to fill Bob's shoes is an impossible task. I think he performed it admirably in what was an entertaining, lovingly crafted, meticulously depicted but ultimately flawed movie.
Those were cringe-worthy moments as well, but for some reason the girl yelling “Judas!” was the final straw for me as I looked around at the passive faces nearby in the theater and wanted to say, “Can you believe this?”
Feels like your just chasing your tale. As you said he crammed 4 years , into two hours . He captured much of the essence of the times of Dylan’s story, and that Dylan did take a different path. Whether a couple of lines happened a year later , or with a couple different words is not very consequential in the 60 year career and volume of music he has left us.
Good piece, totally agree. What also bothered me about the Newport scene was how it gave the impression that Suze/Sylvia was the love of his life and he was crushed when she left -- but she wasn't there in '65. And he was just months from marrying Sara. Also, the movie had Johnny Cash as crucial to the Newport moment, basically telling Bob to go back out and play acoustic. But he wasn't there that year, either. From the NYT: "Dylan had broken up in 1964 with Suze Rotolo (renamed Sylvie Russo for the film at Dylan’s insistence and played by Elle Fanning), and she did not attend the 1965 Newport show. In fact, Dylan married his first wife, Sara Lownds, just a few months after Newport. Dylan and Johnny Cash (Boyd Holbrook) did cement an important friendship at the 1964 festival, but the country singer was not there in 1965."
Like you, I expected and accepted changes -- that's the movies. No problem. But Newport '65 was dramatic enough that it didn't need to be souped-up with fictions.
Enjoyed your writing and looking forward to more of it.
Thanks! Yes, I cringed at Cash being in Newport in '65 (and Suze as well), but was willing to overlook it until the "Judas!" moment. I keep returning to the feeling that this movie isn't for diehards, even though I'm not sure who beyond that group will be enticed by the film. I don't know if I would be motivated to check out Dylan's music because of this if I wasn't familiar with his work.
At my (crowded) viewing there were people older than me (I’m 63). My theory is that it’s a movie mostly — and oddly — for the people whose hearts Bob broke by forsaking folk music. Of course he didn’t really forsake folk music.
Chalamet had an impossible role to live up to. He did fine IMHO really better than most expected considering what he was up against. I'm no Dylan scholar but being a boomer musician and fan have more than a casual knowledge of his history in context to our culture. Now bring on that Joni Mitchell bio.
Oh man, I totally thought that was Dave Van Ronk at the bar at the beginning, too. What a loss. And yes, I concur with the rest of your take, too, down to the grand finale (and really, if you're going to conflate the Manchester show with Newport (as you note, a huge mistake), at least get the goddamn line right--the film just has him say "play loud," and it really loses something without the expletive.
As I noted (okay, wrote on FB), I decided early on to treat the whole show as an MGM musical, and it was pretty good as that--a story of struggling, ambitious young Greenwich Village musicians coming together and falling apart, and growing older, as we all do.
Thanks for the great review John, first-time reader here, I guess that's why Notes is maybe a good thing after all! I saw the movie just yesterday with my partner and my 20-year musical son. We all loved the film as a film but... as someone who has written extensively about this era himself, I....
...Well, we all have our breaking point with a biopic if we know anything about its subject matter. For me, that point came early in Bohemian Rhapsody, but was happily suspended for Rocket Man, which declared itself as what someone else in the comments section here refers to as a "MGM Musical" in its first few minutes. One Love was surprisingly and refreshingly true to history.
I am with you in that my breaking point came with Newport 65. You seem particularly aggrieved by the Judas heckle, but others below note the sheer overload: Johnny Cash (not there!), Suze/Sylvie (not there!), the fight between what Albert Grossman and what I assume to be George Wein, and for me, especially, it was the audience hurling objects at the stage. This was not a punk rock gig in in 1977. This was Newport 65, where folk fans behaved, and we may never truly truly know how much of the booing was merely down to the bad sound, but as you note, it was met by an equal amount of applause. Indeed, just this Dec 23rd I went to the same cinema I saw A Complete Unknown at yesterday, sat in the same seat more or less, and watched the Murray Lerner footage of Bob at Newport 63-65 (The Other Side of The Mirror) and was fascinated overall. The reaction to Maggie's Farm is so contradictory it's amazing.
But in short, I agree with your overview. Ed Norton stole the film and hopefully gets a nod in the awards for doing so. Other characters likewise. And as for Tim, well as you point out, trying to fill Bob's shoes is an impossible task. I think he performed it admirably in what was an entertaining, lovingly crafted, meticulously depicted but ultimately flawed movie.
Those were cringe-worthy moments as well, but for some reason the girl yelling “Judas!” was the final straw for me as I looked around at the passive faces nearby in the theater and wanted to say, “Can you believe this?”
Thank you so much for this take. I feel much the same way. I think Ed Norton is the MVP of this movie.
Feels like your just chasing your tale. As you said he crammed 4 years , into two hours . He captured much of the essence of the times of Dylan’s story, and that Dylan did take a different path. Whether a couple of lines happened a year later , or with a couple different words is not very consequential in the 60 year career and volume of music he has left us.
Right on Jim, being a “purist” misses the point, which was a celebration of Bob’s early career and the people who were present at the creation.
Good piece, totally agree. What also bothered me about the Newport scene was how it gave the impression that Suze/Sylvia was the love of his life and he was crushed when she left -- but she wasn't there in '65. And he was just months from marrying Sara. Also, the movie had Johnny Cash as crucial to the Newport moment, basically telling Bob to go back out and play acoustic. But he wasn't there that year, either. From the NYT: "Dylan had broken up in 1964 with Suze Rotolo (renamed Sylvie Russo for the film at Dylan’s insistence and played by Elle Fanning), and she did not attend the 1965 Newport show. In fact, Dylan married his first wife, Sara Lownds, just a few months after Newport. Dylan and Johnny Cash (Boyd Holbrook) did cement an important friendship at the 1964 festival, but the country singer was not there in 1965."
Like you, I expected and accepted changes -- that's the movies. No problem. But Newport '65 was dramatic enough that it didn't need to be souped-up with fictions.
Enjoyed your writing and looking forward to more of it.
Thanks! Yes, I cringed at Cash being in Newport in '65 (and Suze as well), but was willing to overlook it until the "Judas!" moment. I keep returning to the feeling that this movie isn't for diehards, even though I'm not sure who beyond that group will be enticed by the film. I don't know if I would be motivated to check out Dylan's music because of this if I wasn't familiar with his work.
At my (crowded) viewing there were people older than me (I’m 63). My theory is that it’s a movie mostly — and oddly — for the people whose hearts Bob broke by forsaking folk music. Of course he didn’t really forsake folk music.
I am excited to subscribe and learn more about you through your writing. I am contemplating watching the movie now ;)
Chalamet had an impossible role to live up to. He did fine IMHO really better than most expected considering what he was up against. I'm no Dylan scholar but being a boomer musician and fan have more than a casual knowledge of his history in context to our culture. Now bring on that Joni Mitchell bio.
Oh man, I totally thought that was Dave Van Ronk at the bar at the beginning, too. What a loss. And yes, I concur with the rest of your take, too, down to the grand finale (and really, if you're going to conflate the Manchester show with Newport (as you note, a huge mistake), at least get the goddamn line right--the film just has him say "play loud," and it really loses something without the expletive.
As I noted (okay, wrote on FB), I decided early on to treat the whole show as an MGM musical, and it was pretty good as that--a story of struggling, ambitious young Greenwich Village musicians coming together and falling apart, and growing older, as we all do.
Now back to my Dylan shrine....
There was a lot to like about the film, but those factual lapses took me out of it.
Yeah--also, I have to say, if you're going to misplace the line, at least get it right. Sin and sin boldly! Play FUCKING loud!