It’s by way of Chalamet’s unvarnished performances that the songs are capable of do the speaking. When his voice strains, flattens a syllable, or sounds extra nasal than Dylan ever did, when he sings by way of gritted enamel, this does the songbook justice by not over-manicuring something. If you happen to haven’t seen A Full Unknown, the soundtrack may really feel like a humorous novelty report, Chalamet’s Dylan karaoke, which in some sense, it’s. However within the context of a generational actor portraying a musician who was himself continuously appearing, these 23 tracks are extra like A Full Unknown’s audio supercut.
Timmy Dylan—and, on some tracks, his rollicking would-be Hawks—is joined by Monica Barbaro (of Prime Gun: Maverick fame) as Joan Baez, Edward Norton as Seeger, and Boyd Holbrook as Johnny Money, representing the angels and devils on Dylan’s shoulders. These studio recordings have been initially meant to be used within the film earlier than Chalamet made the case for enjoying every little thing stay as a substitute. Norton sings the interactive Zulu track “Wimoweh,” popularized by Seeger’s blacklisted folks band the Weavers, and clearly chosen to color him as hokey. Among the many three pristine Baez solo tunes is her haunting rendition of “Home of the Rising Solar,” during which Barbaro’s vibrato silences a room on display screen as she locations her hand over the mic to sing a capella. The Timmy-Monica duets vividly reenact “Don’t Suppose Twice, It’s All Proper” and “Lady From the North Nation” (although there’s no proof Dylan and Baez ever sang this collectively).
Solo, Chalamet is devoted to Dylan’s acoustic scripture, from sweeping protest poem “A Arduous Rain’s a-Gonna Fall” to his ode to expanded consciousness, “Mr. Tambourine Man.” “The Occasions They Are a-Altering” stands out as a result of it retains within the film’s explosion of fan cheers and chorus-catching at Newport ’64, a foil to the next yr’s fiasco, as Dylan baits the group with bars on bars of “finger-pointing” ’60s idealism insisting the powers-that-be “don’t criticize what you may’t perceive!” The film’s truncations and tweaks to the songs may be baffling, nonetheless, like the choice to chop the harrowing epic “Masters of Battle” down to simply two minutes (to not point out how the edit axes the very best lyric, “Jesus would by no means forgive what you do”).
One of many joys of Chalamet’s performances is listening to the dizzying, transformative cost of moving into Dylan for the primary time—as did Chalamet, who grew up on the work of Child Cudi and Lil B. These palpable kicks push into the purple on the “electrical” songs with their whirlwind poetry, irreverence incarnate, just like the “God say no/Abe say what?” biblical bricolage opening of “Freeway 61 Revisited.” I do want the soundtrack would’ve saved the viewers jeers and smashed bottles from the film’s “Like a Rolling Stone” scene, blended into the embittered dreamscape alongside the notorious “Judas!” shout (although even probably the most novice Dylanologist is aware of that didn’t occur at Newport). However Chalamet personifies the cool thrill of placing all of it collectively for the primary time: “You don’t want a weatherman to know which means the wind blows.” Wait… the reply is blowing within the wind! It’s purported to be this enjoyable. That first “electrical” album—which had already been out for 4 months earlier than Newport—was referred to as Bringing It All Again Residence, in any case. Actual-life Dylan was returning to his old flame: taking part in in a band like he did as a Little Richard-obsessed teen. “i settle for chaos,” Dylan wrote in that album’s liner notes. “i’m not certain whether or not it accepts me.”
