My final musical selection from a 2024 film comes from a movie that has too many to count. I could have dedicated all ten of my posts from the past two weeks to A Complete Unknown, director James Mangold’s Bob Dylan biopic.
If I had to pick just one, I’d go with a performance of ‘The Times They Are A-Changin” at the Newport Folk Festival. In that scene, the crowd — hearing the song for the first time — instantly recognizes its impact and starts singing along by the second chorus.
Chalamet, beautifully embodying Dylan in both manner and voice, stares back skeptically, both impressed by and wary of what he has unleashed. He seems to recognize that he has fully arrived at whatever this moment means, and now it’s time to head somewhere else. The next cut jumps us to Dylan’s electric era.
I’d also consider performances of ‘Song for Woody,’ ‘Highway 61 Revisited,’ ‘I Was Young When I Left Home,’ ‘Maggie’s Farm,’ ‘Like a Rolling Stone,’ and several duets with Monica Barbaro’s Joan Baez. I’m telling you, the movie is jam-packed with brilliant musical moments.
Alas, none of them are available on YouTube. So I’m going with one that is — a clip of Dylan and Baez singing ‘Blowin’ in the Wind’ in his apartment.
This scene has the added benefit of featuring one of the sexiest moments I saw onscreen last year — Monica Barbaro in a torn white t-shirt and panties calling Bob Dylan an asshole.
How many roads must a man walk down before you call him a man?
How many seas must the white dove sail before she sleeps in the sand?
Yes, and how many times must the cannonballs fly before they’re forever banned?
[Refrain]
The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind
The answer is blowin’ in the wind
[Verse 2]
Yes, and how many years can a mountain exist before it is washed to the sea?
Yes, and how many years can some people exist before they’re allowed to be free?
Yes, and how many times can a man turn his head and pretend that he just doesn’t see?
[Refrain]
The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind
The answer is blowin’ in the wind
[Verse 3]
Yes, and how many times must a man look up before he can see the sky?
Yes, and how many ears must one man have before he can hear people cry?
Yes, and how many deaths will it take till he knows that too many people have died?
[Refrain]
The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind
The answer is blowin’ in the wind
Meet Me In Montauk 
I’d like to see this movie again just to bask in the musical moments like this one.
Loved this movie!
My favorite scenes in the film focused on the complicated relationship between these two, and this is a great one.
It would be in my top 5 musical moments, for sure. To nobody’s surprise, my #1 is Zoe Saldaña exposing hypocrisy in her crushed red velvet pantsuit in Emilia Perez.