Homeland And All Things Maher

[NCJohnnie]

Finally saw “A Complete Unknown” - thank you Delta.

I was reluctant since I'm a big Dylan fan and biopics are very hit or miss. This hit.

It was much better than I thought considering the last thing James Mangold did was a terrible Indiana Jones movie. But he did "Cop Land" and a bunch of other solid flicks and that came through here.

Sure some liberties were taken, but it captured the spirit of both the Dylan story and the era very well. It had some surprisingly poignant moments especially the Woody Guthrie scenes.

Timmy was great in the lead role. He played young Dylan perfectly with a mix of ambition, disdain, and assholery.

The supporting cast was spectacular with Norton as St. Pete, the pious, dogmatic Newport Folk Festival folks and, of course, the two actresses who played Joan Baez and Sylvie aka Suze Rotolo.

It receives a coveted MainMan thumbs up.

Agree 100% MM. my wife, oldest daughter and I all liked it enough to see it twice.
While I wasn’t at the 1965 festival, spent many summers visiting family in Newport and did go to 1970 festival. They captured the feel of the Newport festivals as well.
One of my favorite touches was when he bought the whistle from the street vendor that he used for the start of Highway 61 (even though it never happened and supposedly Al Kooper brought the whistle to the recording session).

 

[MainMan]

Agree 100% MM. my wife, oldest daughter and I all liked it enough to see it twice.
While I wasn’t at the 1965 festival, spent many summers visiting family in Newport and did go to 1970 festival. They captured the feel of the Newport festivals as well.
One of my favorite touches was when he bought the whistle from the street vendor that he used for the start of Highway 61 (even though it never happened and supposedly Al Kooper brought the whistle to the recording session).

"You got kids?"

"Yeah, thousands of them."

Completely made-up scene, but it was great.

 

[BrookJersey Redmen]

Finally saw “A Complete Unknown” - thank you Delta.

I was reluctant since I'm a big Dylan fan and biopics are very hit or miss. This hit.

It was much better than I thought considering the last thing James Mangold did was a terrible Indiana Jones movie. But he did "Cop Land" and a bunch of other solid flicks and that came through here.

Sure some liberties were taken, but it captured the spirit of both the Dylan story and the era very well. It had some surprisingly poignant moments especially the Woody Guthrie scenes.

Timmy was great in the lead role. He played young Dylan perfectly with a mix of ambition, disdain, and assholery.

The supporting cast was spectacular with Norton as St. Pete, the pious, dogmatic Newport Folk Festival folks and, of course, the two actresses who played Joan Baez and Sylvie aka Suze Rotolo.

It receives a coveted MainMan thumbs up.

Spot on Main Man. Agree completely, enjoyed it way more than I expected. The movie made Alan Lomax out to be a jerk, Grossman a bit gross.

I saw a documentary about early Dylan and Dave Von Ronk seemed pissed that Dylan's co-opting his version of House of the Rising Sun got onto Dylan's album and Dylan told him about it after the fact. Von Ronk apparently came up with an unusual chord to use for the song and it changed it a lot. Some great stories in that documentary called No Direction Home.

 

[MainMan]

Spot on Main Man. Agree completely, enjoyed it way more than I expected. The movie made Alan Lomax out to be a jerk, Grossman a bit gross.

I saw a documentary about early Dylan and Dave Von Ronk seemed pissed that Dylan's co-opting his version of House of the Rising Sun got onto Dylan's album and Dylan told him about it after the fact. Von Ronk apparently came up with an unusual chord to use for the song and it changed it a lot. Some great stories in that documentary called No Direction Home.

"No Direction Home" is one of the great bio and musical documentaries ever made.