Directed by James Mangold (Walk the Line (2005); Ford v Ferrari (2019); Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023); 3:10 to Yuma (2007)) and starring Timothée Chalamet (Call Me By Your Name (2017); Lady Bird (2017); Dune: Part One (2021); Wonka (2023)), Edward Norton (Fight Club (1999); Birdman (2014); Asteroid City (2023); The French Dispatch (2021)), Elle Fanning (Maleficent (2014); Super 8 (2011); A Rainy Day in New York (2019)), Monica Barbaro (Top Gun: Maverick (2022); At Midnight (2023)) and Scoot McNairy (Argo (2012); 12 Years a Slave (2013); A Quiet Place Part II (2020)).

Biopic; 141 mins; 6+

Set over a five-year period in the early 1960s; an unknown 19-year-old Bob Dylan (Timothée Chalamet) arrives in New York City from Minnesota with his guitar, seeking out one of his heroes, Woody Guthrie (Scoot McNairy), who is in a secure hospital. There he meets Pete Seeger (Edward Norton) who instantly sees that the youngster has something special in his song-writing and his voice.

Initially signed to record an album of cover songs, his career started to really take off once his own songs were recorded. 

While was vague about his past and protective of his origins, he did reveal he worked in a carnival where he took inspiration from  number of different visitors. 

On the musical side, the film charts his origins as a folk singer and shows how he bent and blended genres, always believing in his music and not wanting to be steered by others. He wears his trademark dark glasses and Chalamet both walked and talked like the real-life character; the film portrayed him too as writing whenever he could, often getting little sleep and getting up in the middle of the night, and also having disdain for those in authority who did not necessarily understand where he wanted to go with his music.

It also shows his private life, including life with both Sylvie Russo (Elle Fanning) and Joan Baez (Monica Barbaro), with whom he had a tempestuous relationship, yet let the music do the talking when on tour together. 

It also shone a light on the political backdrop of the times; McCarthyism was still in vogue and JF Kennedy was president (and then assassinated); the nuclear threat was still there (after end of WWII) as was the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the civil rights movement was in full swing with the likes of Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. being active. But it was also the time of a golden era of music with many legends emerging through that period.

It charts his meteoric rise and focuses on performances (as well as behind-the-scenes happenings in both his private life and regarding the record label and festival organisers) at the Newport Folk Festival in 1964 and the following year where his performances were eagerly anticipated yet controversial when he started to include electric guitars, etc., and a move towards rock-and-roll in an evolution from his folk roots.

An incredible soundtrack and wonderful storytelling, although the second half could have been clipped a bit. At times it was like being in the front row of a concert. 

While it may not respect the true chronological order of what happened when, the director James Mangold brilliantly mashes everything together to present a hugely entertaining feast of visual and audio stroytelling that is already attracting top awards, partly as Timothée Chalamet is outstanding in the lead role and portrays him as both self-absorbed and aloof, as well as charismatic, and also Monica Barbaro who hits all the high notes as sung by Joan Baez.

Currently screening at Kinepolis, Ciné Utopia and CinNextDoor across Luxembourg.