Neil Young Shares His Review of Bob Dylan Biopic 'A Complete Unknown': 'I Loved It'
The movie has already garnered major Oscar buzz and positive reviews for star Timothée Chalamet, and is now getting some love from one of Dylan's significant peers.
Neil Young: Children Of Destiny
Neil Young has shared his thoughts on the buzzy new biopic of Bob Dylan, A Complete Unknown.
Young's upcoming "lost" album Oceanside Countryside is still a month away from release, and in the meantime the Canadian folk-rock icon is taking in some cinema. He gives two thumbs up to the film, which stars Timothée Chalamet in the lead role as Dylan.
"I love Bob Dylan and his music. Always have. He's a great artist," Young writes on his Neil Young Archives website. "This movie is a great tribute to his life and music. I think if you love Bob's music you should see this great movie. I loved it," he shares.
A Complete Unknown chronicles Dylan's beginnings in the New York folk scene of the early '60s, where he was mentored by legendary activist singer Pete Seeger, to his infamous decision to go electric at the Newport Folk Festival of 1965, establishing him as a rock iconoclast.
During that same period, Neil Young was hanging out with Joni Mitchell in Toronto's Yorkville folk scene. Young moved south of the border in 1966, joining folk-rock group Buffalo Springfield and eventually becoming one of the biggest figures in rock and roll, alongside Dylan.
The two have occasionally been rivals: Dylan famously found Young's No. 1 hit "Heart of Gold" frustratingly similar to his own music.
But they also seem to share a major respect for one another, referencing each other in songs like Dylan's "Highlands" and Young's "Flags of Freedom." Young has also called himself a "B student" of Dylan's, and Dylan once made a pilgrimage to Young's childhood home in Winnipeg.
"Once he was on my bus and I didn't recognize him and threw him off," Young adds in his review of Unknown, "but that's another story."
They performed together at The Band's famous final concert (filmed in Martin Scorsese's The Last Waltz) sharing the stage for closing song "I Shall Be Released," written by Dylan. Young also performed at a 1992 30th anniversary celebration of Dylan, covering "All Along the Watchtower" and "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues."
It's a good sign for the movie that Young gives his stamp of approval. Fans on Reddit joked that he's probably looking forward to seeing who will play him in the sequel.
