January 20th, 2025

A Complete Unknown: Timothee Chalamet is pretty much everywhere these days and I wondered where he found the time to fit this film into his schedule.   He has the hair and the look of a young Bob Dylan, and he does an admirable job at mannerisms and voice.  He also does sing it would appear.   I will note that this movie is over a relatively short period of the long life of Dylan.  It chronicles his early days in NYC when he is looking to establish himself as a folk singer.   It shows his attendance at a folk festival in Connecticut or Rhode Island.   He meets a young more established Joan Baez.  He also befriends the Edward Norton character Pete Seegar (known for If I Had a Hammer, Where Have All the Flowers Gone).   Norton’s character is friends with and spends time with well known singer Woddy Guthrie (This Land Is Your Land, City of New Orleans) who is in hospital with a chronic worsening disease.   Dylan wanted to meet him. 

We see that Dylan started by mostly covering other artists songs.   But he is creating his own music.  The creative process is fascinating.  He plucks away at the guitar, all the while writing down verses in his notebook.   Music flows out of him.  It is almost as though he can’t turn it off.  We see him in a hotel room late at night creating while a female companion is looking to sleep.   He is engrossed fully in writing.  Later as he becomes more popular and in demand he realizes that there are some drawbacks to fame.   The money is good but the fame can be a distraction.   He can’t just sit quietly in the corner at a local pub and listen to artists play.   Later he is at a party and he can’t just attend, he is expected to perform and play for people there.  He is pulled in many ways.   But he is a restless and independent soul.  He forges his own way and the main turning point in the film is his attendance at the same folk festival but he plays his latest songs mostly played on electric guitar rather than the well known folk songs that this audience wants to here.  He is the headliner and he has to decide whether he should “play along” or be true to himself and his art.   
I liked this.   There were strong performances, with Chalamet yes but also Joan Baez and Norton.  This is worth your time although I am not sure whether it needs to be seen on the big screen.   There will Oscars nominations for this movie and justifiably so.   This is infinitely better than the other Dylan related movie I Am Not There, where disjointed Dylan stories were told with various stars playing Dylan, including Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett and Heath Ledger.

My Old Ass: On Prime, this was a movie that had a short release over the summer.   I was introduced to it by a buddy who lives in Muskoka on Lake Rosseau, and he had said that it was filmed there.  Margot Robbie is one of the Producers and she had spent some time up there.   I was intrigued, as a lifetime cottager and familiar with the area.   I will say that this movie was really a pleasant surprise, and more than just a travel log to see Muskoka in its peak summertime season.

The premise is a simple one.  A young woman who is turning 18yo through unimportant means manages to meet her 39yo self.  They have an initial conversation and then have an ongoing dialogue, in person and over text and phone.  After some good jokes, the older self says that she should avoid a guy named Chad.  The younger self is intrigued because she hasn’t met anyone named Chad yet.  In fact she is having a current hook up from time to time with a local woman who works in Port Carling. 

The performances are good with Aubrey Plaza playing the 39yo self.   Canadian Maisy Stella plays the younger self.   She is unfamiliar to me.  There are additional things that older self brings forward but she is careful not to disclose too much and take away from the learning of the younger.  A couple suggestions are to golf with her brother, as well as spending more time with her Mom and the rest of the family that younger self is eagerly awaiting her chance to run away from and spread her wings in big city, Toronto.  Lessons are learned.  There is growth but interestingly it isn’t just one way as you might expect.  There are some turns which I won’t share.  There is an emotional impact which belies the high level description of this being a comedy.   Yes it has some comedic moments but it is more than that.   I can easily recommend this from someone who came into it cold, and took more away from it than I thought. 

Woman of the Hour: This movie was released on Netflix.   It is directed by the star Anna Kendrick.   It is a true story about an aspiring actress woman who in the late 1970s in Hollywood was placed on The Dating Game.   In the show she as the bachelorette is asking three men random playfully suggestive questions, and the men answer. 

The difference in this instance we see that one of male contestants has had a history or acting violently with women, with a few who have disappeared under mysterious circumstances.  Kendrick of course has no idea about this.   The TV producers didn’t do much due diligence and are focusing on putting on an entertaining show.  Even when it is brought to their attention from a viewer who recognizes the guy contestant, they are very quick to try to dismiss the allegations of having a dangerous contestant. 

This was okay and showed that TV back then and even today is an artificial reality where producers just want ratings.   Spend enough time watching YouTube and you will see stories of the treatment of reality TV participants, and how they are treated all in the name of entertainment.   There are some disconcerting stories.  Kendrick does a decent job in her portrayal and we see how lucky she was in avoiding the fate of some earlier women.   The epilogue is quite disturbing and how such a predator can be at large for such a prolonged period of time.