Legendary musician Bob Dylan is getting the biopic treatment in A Complete Unknown, with Timothée Chalamet playing him (a performance where he “embodies” Dylan, as I described in my A Complete Unknown review). But Dylan is no stranger to the big screen himself, as there have been a number of documentaries chronicling the enigmatic artist over his career. One such Bob Dylan documentary is now streaming for free online, Don’t Look Back on The Criterion Channel.
From now until January 1, D.A. Pennebaker’s Don’t Look Back is free to stream on The Criterion Channel with no subscription required to the streaming service. All you have to do is go to The Criterion Channel (online or through the app on a smart TV), search Don’t Look Back and select the free option for start watching the documentary (there are a couple of features related to the movie that do require a subscription to watch).
Here is the official synopsis for Don’t Look Back on The Criterion Channel:
“Bob Dylan is captured on-screen as he never would be again in this groundbreaking film from D. A. Pennebaker. The legendary documentarian finds Dylan in England during his 1965 tour, which would be his last as an acoustic artist. In this wildly entertaining vision of one of the 20th century’s greatest artists, Dylan is surrounded by teen fans, gets into heated philosophical jousts with journalists and kicks back with fellow musicians Joan Baez, Donovan and Alan Price. Featuring some of Dylan’s most famous songs, including 'Subterranean Homesick Blues,' 'The Times They Are A-Changin’,' and 'It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue,' Don’t Look Back is a radically conceived portrait of an American icon that has influenced decades of vérité behind-the-scenes documentaries.”
The documentary can be a great companion piece to A Complete Unknown, which covers Dylan’s rise to fame up to his 1965 performance at the Newport Folk Festival where he played electric, upsetting many. The documentary will give another look into Dylan’s mindset around that time
Don’t Look Back is one of many Dylan documentaries that are available to watch. Martin Scorsese directed a pair of documentaries about Dylan, 2005’s No Direction Home, which is available to watch on PBS, and 2019’s Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story which is streaming exclusively on Netflix.
If you watch Don’t Look Back on The Criterion Channel and become intrigued by the other movies available on the streaming service, you can sign up for a seven-day free trial of The Criterion Channel, after which the streaming service costs $10.99 per month or $99.99 for a full year’s subscription.
A Complete Unknown releases exclusively in US movie theaters on December 25; it releases in the UK on January 17.
