My sister Alice introduced me to the music of Bob Dylan.

I was 13.

Alice, six years older than me, was a member of the Columbia Record Club. Among the monthly selections was “Joan Baez In Concert, Part 2” (1963), which included Baez’s recording of Bob Dylan’s “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright” from Dylan’s all-originals second studio album, “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan” (1963), with a cover photo of Dylan walking arm-in-arm with then girlfriend Suze Rotolo (1943-2011).

Dylan’s debut album, “Bob Dylan” (1962), had only two Dylan originals, “Talkin’ New York” and “Song to Woody,” the latter heard in “A Complete Unknown.”

When I was in high school, “John Wesley Harding” (1967) was the first Dylan album that I bought. After that, at age 18, it was off to Syracuse University, where I fell in with a band of Dylan aficionados, including Joey, who has taken numerous Dylan graduate-level seminar courses; Michael, whose wit and wisdom is Dylanesque, and Abdo, whose musicianship is Dylanesque.

I was soon backtracking, buying Dylan’s “The Times They Are a-Changin’” (1964), “Another Side of Bob Dylan” (1964), “Bringing It All Back Home” (1965), “Highway 61 Revisited” (1965) and “Blonde on Blonde” 1966).

As part of a University Union series at the Jabberwocky club at Syracuse, Joey, Michael and me screened D.A. Pennebaker’s seminal Dylan documentary, “Don’t Look Back” (1967), for which I transported from New York City to Syracuse in my VW Beetle the notorious Dylan “garbologist” A.J. Weberman, hawking bootleg copies of Dylan’s book of poetry, “Tarantula” (officially published in 1971) after the movie screening.

Soon after, I bought Dylan bootleg albums (later first released as ”The Basement Tapes,” starting in 1975), which found their way into Syracuse M Street record store bins.

There follow years of buying every Dylan album on the day of its release, attending concerts by Dylan backed by The Band, notably at The Spectrum, Philadelphia, when the lyric, “Even the president of the United States sometimes must stand naked” from “It’s Alright Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)” from “Brining It All Back Home,” struck a particular chord in 1974.

When Dylan was on tour for his born-again albums, “Slow Train Coming” (1979), “Saved” (1980) and “Shot of Love” (1981), I drove to his Oct. 17, 1981, concert in Milwaukee, Wisc., and wrote a review, later published in a major metropolitan Lehigh Valley daily newspaper.

The last Dylan concert I attended was July 14, 2009, on a combined bill with John Mellencamp and Willie Nelson before a sold-out crowd of 10,000 at Coca-Cola Park, Allentown.

I have followed Dylan’s prodigious output over the recent years, notably his 17-minute opus, “Murder Most Foul” from his album, “Rough and Rowdy Ways” (2020). Dylan’s book, “The Philosophy of Modern Song” (2022 ) is a particular delight.

Movies about, inspired by or starring Dylan are a cottage industry. Internet Movie Database lists 31. Among them: director Todd Haynes’ oddball biopic, “I’m Not There” (2007), where six actors portray Dylan (including Cate Blanchett); director Martin Scorsese’s insightful documentary, ”No Direction Home” (2005), and “Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese” (2019), about his 1975 tour, and the Coen brothers’ snarky, desultory faux Dylan fictive piffle, “Inside Llewyn Davis” (2013).

Which brings us to the Dylan biopic, “A Complete Unknown.” And here you thought you were holding in your hands a movie review.

The movie title, from the chorus of Dylan’s No. 1 hit single “Like a Rolling Stone” (1965), says it all. After you see the movie, and you hard-core Dylan fans know who you are, you will have, if not more knowledge about Dylan, at least a sense of the biopic’s time frame, 1961-1965.

Dylan (a stunning Timothée Chalamet) arrived fresh-faced from Hibbing, Minn., for a near-death experience with his music troubadour hero, Woody Guthrie (Scoot McNairy), languishing in an apparent Huntington’s Disease stupor in Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital, Morris Plains, N.J.

“A Complete Unknown” weaves Dylan’s association with the Johnny Appleseed of American folk music, Pete Seeger (an amazing Edward Norton); Dylan’s relationship with Suze Rotolo, named Sylvie Russo in the film (a remarkable Elle Fanning) and Dylan’s “Diamonds and Rust” romance with Joan Baez (a wonderful Monica Barbaro) into a fascinating story.

The usual suspects are lurking about: Dylan’s manager, Albert Grossman (Dan Fogler), Dylan’s recording session producers John H. Hammond Sr., (David Alan Basche) and Tom Wilson (Eric Berryman) and various session players, musicians, hangers-on and notables, such as Johnny Cash (Boyd Holbrook) and Dave Van Ronk (Joe Tippett).

The film concludes with Dylan’s climactic performance at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival when he switched from acoustic guitar to electric guitar. It was said to be controversial and the film presents its as such. It sounds trivial now.

Even so, “A Complete Unknown” has the excitement of discovery, the immediacy of love and the satisfaction of a song well-written and well-sung. The film is frequently funny in an outrageous way.

The settings and scenes are involving, in nostalgic warm tones and take us back to a seemingly more innocent time: the apartments, recording studios, folk music clubs (The Gaslight, Cafe Wha, Gerde’s Folk City), folk festivals, the clothing, the cars, the hairstyles.

The film places us in the context of the era, of the television news, from Kennedy announcing the Cuban Missile Crisis to Walter Cronkite announcing Kennedy’s assassination.

Front and center in “A Complete Unknown” is (Timothée Chalamet) as Bob Dylan. Chalamet (Oscar nominee, actor, “Call Me by Your Name.” 2018; other roles, actor: “Dune: Part Two,” 2024; “Wonka,” 2023; “Dune: Part One,” 2021; “Lady Bird,” 2017) brings a knowing winsomeness, arrogance and totally self-possessed vibes to the role. He plays and performs some 40 Dylan songs.

Director James Mangold (Oscar nominee, picture, “Ford v Ferrari,” 2020; adapted screenplay, “Logan,” 2018; other films he directed: “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” 2023; “3:10 To Yuma,” 2007; “Walk the Line,” 2005; “Girl, Interrupted,” 1999; “Cop Land,” 1997) directs from a screenplay he cowrote with Jay Cocks based on the book, “Dylan Goes Electric” (2015) by Elijah Wald.

Mangold collaborates with his longtime Director of Photography Phedon Papamichael (Oscar nominee, “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” 2021, and “Nebraska,” 2014).

As with many of his previous films, Mangold is able to get inside the heads of his subjects, and the hearts of his audiences.

Look for double-digit Oscar nominations, including picture, director, adapted screenplay, actor (Chalamet) and supporting actress (Fanning) for “A Complete Unknown.”

The thing about Bob Dylan and the movie “A Complete Unknown” is that a folk music legend, pop music star, movie star or sports hero can become an aspirational idol on which we project our dreams as if keeping a hope chest for the person we most admire, want to become or wish we were. It’s called hero worship for a reason.

If you are a Baby Boomer, and a Bob Dylan fan, you will see yourself, your friends and your life in “A Complete Unknown.” You may depart the film knowing, not completely, but knowing more than you did before about yourself, if not Bob Dylan.

Where we were when we first heard a particular song, or viewed a certain work of art or saw a memorable film becomes a marker in our lives.

And isn’t that the role of music, of art, of the artist: To illuminate ourselves and the world we live in?

“A Complete Unknown,” MPAA Rated R (Restricted: Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian. Contains some adult material. Parents are urged to learn more about the film before taking their young children with them ) for language; Genre: Biography, Drama, Music; Run time: 2 hours, 21 minutes. Distributed by Searchlight Pictures.

Credit Readers Anonymous: “A Complete Unknown” was filmed in Hoboken, Newark, Paterson, Elizabeth, Highlands, Red Bank, Passaic, Jersey City and Cape May, N.J., and New York City , from March through June 2024.

At The Movies: “A Complete Unknown” was seen in the standard format at AMC Center Valley 16.

Theatrical Movie Domestic Weekend Box Office, Dec. 27-29: “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” stayed at No. 1 two weeks in a row, $37 million in 3,769 theaters, $136.5 million, two weeks.

“Mufasa: The Lion King” stayed at No.2 with $36.8 million in 4,100 theaters, $113.1 million, two weeks.

3. “Nosferatu,” director Robert Eggers’ take on the vampire tale, starring Bill Skarsgård, Willem Dafoe, Lily-Rose Depp and Nicholas Hoult, $21.6 million in 2,992 theaters, weekend; $40.8 million since Dec. 25 opening. 4. “Wicked” dropped one place, $19.7 million in 3,177 theaters, $424.5 million, six weeks. 5. “Moana 2” dropped one place, $18.9 million in 3,405 theaters, $395.3 million, five weeks. 6. “A Complete Unknown,” the Bob Dylan bio pic starring Timothée Chalamet, Edward Norton and Elle Fanning, $11.6 million in 2,835 theaters; $23.2 million since Dec. 25 opening. 7. “Babygirl,” starring Nicole Kidman, $4.4 million in 2,115 theaters, $7.3 million since Dec. 25 opening. 8. “Gladiator II” dropped two places, $4 million in 1,865 theaters, $163 million, six weeks. 9. “Homestead” dropped four places, $3 million in 1,769 theaters, $12.7 million, two weeks. 10. “The Fire Inside,” a docudrama about female boxer Claressa “T-Rex” Shields, $1.9 million in 2,006 theaters, $4.2 million since Dec. 25 opening.

Movie box office information from Box Office Mojo as of Dec. 29 is subject to change.

Four Popcorn Boxes out of Five Popcorn Boxes