A Complete Unknown Archives - Silver Screen Riot

2024 was a complicated year for film. The aftershocks of the industry strikes were deeply felt, shifting countless productions and leaving gaps in the release calendar, just as the rise of concerns over things like A.I. really took hold. It felt like a transition year in many places. A marker between past and future with the present was anything but certain. The MCU, for instance, released only one film whereas the SSU dropped three, before dropping dead entirely. Yet, even amidst industry turbulence, a number of nothing short of remarkable films emerged—entries that will no doubt remain in rotation on the queue for years to come. It was a year of resilience and creativity, with filmmakers continuing to push boundaries, challenge conventions, and deliver unforgettable stories on the silver screen, despite the myriad challenges to the art form. Read More

I’ve never seen Bob Dylan live. In theory, I would love to, but I’ve been convinced that the artist whose music was such a beacon of personal resistance and revolution for me in my college years isn’t what he once was. As if by design, he deprives his audiences of the freewheeling early breakouts that largely define his career, favoring newer material—predominantly smoky R&B tracks with even smokier vocals. And yet, Bob Dylan, as presented in James Mangold’s smartly constructed and slippery biopic A Complete Unknown, has always, almost instinctually, rebelled against our expectations of him, bristling at the idea that his value as an artist is tied to his willingness to embrace any outmoded form of who he is. The Bob Dylan of today and the Bob Dylan of yesterday may be in conversation with one another, but the living continuum is not a hostage of the past. He doesn’t seek to be known, but he wants to be understood, especially for who he is in the here and now. Read More