By Kristel Erguiza Staff Writer My perfect birthday gift? Walking into the theater opening day to watch “A Complete Unknown.” “A Complete Unknown” premiered in theaters with “Nosferatu,” and I had trouble picking which one I had initially wanted to watch, but settled on “A Complete Unknown” because I am not really that big of a fan of horror movies. James Mangold’s “A Complete Unknown” stars Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan, navigating his early success as a folk powerhouse to the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, where Dylan was relatively young, being 19 when the movie takes place. Monica Barbaro stars as Joan Baez, a popular singer who enchants the audience and Dylan with her angelic, almost siren-like voice, who Dylan meets and begins to write songs with. Other characters include Boyd Holbrook as Johnny Cash, Edward Norton as Pete Seeger, and Elle Fanning as Slyvie Russo, Dylan’s girlfriend. Fanning’s character is based on Dylan’s real life girlfriend, Suze Rotolo. Barbaro’s performance as Joan Baez made me a new fan of hers! I had never seen her acting before this, and it gave me goosebumps whenever she and Chalamet would be singing on stage or arguing throughout the movie. Holbrook and Norton’s performances as famed singers Johnny Cash and Pete Seeger were very good as well. I liked how Johnny Cash was very understanding of Dylan’s wanting to be different and not be a part of the status quo, and was also not afraid to be himself. Dylan is the kind of person who goes outside the box, does not really take people’s advice and does his own thing, which was shown throughout Chalamet’s actions and his facial expressions, showing viewers how he really prepared for this role. Dylan’s disdain for being the face of the folk and activism movement shines through Chalamet’s performance when he uses electric instruments instead of acoustic. His uncaring spirit about what his manager and everyone around him expects of him was very amusing to me, and made me feel for Dylan. Seeing in articles and interviews that it took Chalamet five years to prepare for this role really struck me, because he had the expressions and singing of Dylan executed perfectly. Though there were some flaws, he could definitely pass for a Dylan lookalike. Chalamet’s acting is reminiscent of how he had acted in his previous roles, very aloof and not really understanding of others like in “Ladybird” and that he had wanted this role for a while, practicing how to play guitar and using the same vocal coaches as Austin Butler did for “Elvis.” I also really enjoyed the pacing of the movie, it did not go as fast as I thought it would and gave me a lot of details about how Dylan had acted and how much he cared about his songwriting and music. Slyvie being mad that Dylan is using his talent instead of being an active member in their relationship struck a chord with me, because while reading Baez’s memoir, she alludes to Dylan not really caring about anyone other than himself. It really shows in the movie that he only really either cared about himself or his music, and Chalamet captures his narcissism perfectly. Based on the book “Dylan Goes Electric” by Elijah Wald, Chalamet’s performance as the nonchalant Dylan proves that biopics will continue to stay in media, and that the roles he chooses will prove his spontaneity. Rating: B+ It’s a Folk-in good movie!