In 2025, around 19.7 million Americans watched the Academy Awards ceremony. Oscar viewership fluctuates year by year, however, the last time the ceremony drew in a U.S. audience of more than 40 million was back in 2014. The figure recorded in 2021 was the lowest ever and marked a drop-off of over 50 percent from the 2020 audience. There has been a slow, but steady increase in viewership, but it is still less than 50% of what it was a decade ago.

The reason most frequently given for the drop in viewership is that audiences haven’t seen most of the nominees, which is, in my opinion, their own fault.

While most people no longer routinely go out to theaters to catch the latest highly rated film, anyone who cares about movies can still find the year’s Oscar nominated films via pay-per-view, streaming on services they have already purchased, and in most cases, an eventual DVD or Blu-ray release.

A Complete Unknown, now available on pay-per-view, and soon to hit streaming and Blu-ray, is the next-to-last 2024 Best Picture nominee to be made available to you on your TV or computer. Only the Brazilian I’m Still Here remains to be seen in that regard.

Granted, if your only resource is home viewing, you will not have been able to see A Complete Unknown prior to the Oscars, but most people are familiar enough with Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Peter Seeger, and Woody Guthrie, four of the film’s main characters to know what to expect from a film set in the Greenwich Village folk scene of the early 1960s. Those who aren’t familiar with those legends surely know Timothée Chalamet, who plays Dylan, and probably Edward Norton who plays Seeger, as well. That’s enough to pique interest.

The other eight nominees have been available for a while. Like it or not, box office juggernaut Dune: Part Two has been out on DVD and Blu-ray since last May. Emilia Pérez began streaming on Netflix in early November. Wicked hit theaters in time for Thanksgiving, pay-per-view in time for Christmas, and DVD and Blu-ray in early February. The Substance has been on pay-per-view and streaming for quite a while now and on Blu-ray since late January. Others including Anora and The Brutalist have been on pay-for-view for a while now.

There are those who refuse to purchase anything from pay-per-view, waiting for a film they want to see until it hits streaming, but that doesn’t seem to faze Oscar buffs who will pay anywhere from half price of a movie theater ticket to the price of two tickets to be able to see a major Oscar contender they would not otherwise have access to.

A Complete Unknown is such a film.

Although filmed primarily in Jersey City and Hoboken in Northern New Jersey, the film vividly evokes the look and feel of early 1960s Greenwich Village. Cast early on, Chalamet spent five years practicing his singing and guitar playing in Dylan’s style. He is letter perfect whether singing classic Dylan songs such as “Blowin’ in the Wind,” “The Times They Are A’Changin’,”
and “Like a Rolling Stone” that comprises much the film’s score or the harder stuff that signals his break-up with folk legends Seeger and Baez.

Edward Norton does equally well with his interpretations of some of Seeger’s own songs such as “Wimoweh” or those of Woody Guthrie such as “This Land Is Your Land”.

Monica Barbaro thrillingly interprets Joan Baez singing the traditional folk songs she reintroduced to the public including “Silver Dagger” and “House of the Rising Sun” as well as in her duets with Chalamet as Dylan.

Others making strong impressions include Elle Fanning as Dylan’s off and on girlfriend, Scoot McNairy as Guthrie, and Boyd Holbrook as Johnny Cash.

Director James Mangold previously directed Joaquin Phoenix to an Oscar nomination playing Cash in 2005’s Walk the Line for which Reese Witherspoon won an Oscar for playing June Carter Cash. His only other involvement with a film musical was 2017’s The Greatest Showman on which he was executive producer.

Dylan, who won an Oscar for the song “Things Have Changed” from 2000’s Wonder Boys, has been a participant as well as the subject of various concert films and anthologies. He has even acted on screen in Sam Peckinpah’s 1973 film, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid for which he wrote the score.

Dylan was the subject of Todd Haynes’ 2007 film, I’m Not There in which different interpretations of Dylan’s life and times at different stages are played by six different actors, Heath Ledger, Christian Bale, Richard Gere, Ben Wishaw, Marcus Carl Franklin, and Cate Blanchett with Blanchett receiving an Oscar nomination for her performance.

The Coen Brothers’ 2013 film, Inside Llewyn Davis was about the Greenwich Village folk music scene before Dylan’s arrival in 1959. That film, which starred Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, and Justn Timberlake is a great one to watch if you’re looking for something else in the same vein as A Complete Unknown. They make an excellent double feature.

Happy Viewing.