Diwali, the five-day Indian celebration of light and joy, is coming up right in between Austin City Limits Festival, Halloween, and all the end-of-year busyness. It’s time to get out of town and dance it out to some Bollywood hits.
Dreamland, an outdoor sports and entertainment venue in Dripping Springs, is inviting Central Texans from all walks of life to celebrate Diwali on October 23. All the same things that usually happen at Dreamland — mini golf, disc golf, pickleball, and more — will still be going on, plus music, dancing, and food for the revelers.
The most recognizable mark of Diwali in the United States is Rangoli, a colorful art form used mostly during festivals. Sand (or household ingredients like flour) mandalas are carefully assembled on the floor, where they embody the theme of Diwali: light conquering darkness. Dreamland will greet guests with these meditative artworks, and offer a similar art in the form of henna tattoos (which are great for kids, and fade in a week or two).
Most of the festivities will happen on the main lawn, where dancers will put on Garba and Dandiya dance performances, utilizing two traditional folk styles from the state of Gujarat. Then the DJ will turn it over to a Bollywood mix.
Dreamland’s first Diwali celebration was in 2021, so the tradition is still evolving. In 2022, the five days start on October 21 and end on October 25, with the main day falling on October 23. The Diwali festivities last from 3-7 pm, and are free to enter.
Next up at Dreamland is the Halloween Bash on October 29, which includes a three-tier costume contest for kids, adults, and the whole family, plus an outdoor movie showing and some spooky special cocktails.
Music biopics never seem to go out of style, although they’re rarely very good because most of them tend to tell the same story. A musician/band gets discovered, rises to popularity, experiences trouble at their peak due to (insert sex/drugs/alcohol/ego), and either finds a measure of redemption once they’ve been sufficiently humbled or dies due to their lack of control.
Paradoxically, what few music biopics fail to do is properly showcase the music that made the person popular in the first place, a mistake that A Complete Unknown doesn’t repeat, becoming a smashing success in the process. The film follows Bob Dylan (Timothée Chalamet) over a roughly four-year period from when he first arrived in New York City in 1961 to his then-revolutionary electric set at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965.
Dylan seeks out well-known folk singers Pete Seeger (Edward Norton) and an ailing Woody Guthrie (Scoot McNairy) when he first arrives, with Seeger taking him under his wing. Dylan starts to establish himself in the local club scene with his unique songwriting voice, meeting fellow singer Joan Baez (Monica Barbaro), with whom he starts an on-and-off relationship. As his popularity grows, his reaction is antithetical to what’s expected, as he rarely engages with fans and focuses on his next song(s) instead of the ones for which he became known.
Directed by James Mangold (Walk the Line) and written by Mangold and Jay Cocks, the film may not be much of a revelation for Dylan superfans, but for casual fans or those who know nothing about him, it is one of the most effective music biopics in recent memory, if not ever. Not only does Mangold track the musical evolution of Dylan, but he gives the full context of the people who influenced him most, including Guthrie, Seeger, Baez, and more.
The film is not a musical in the traditional sense, but the amount of music in it makes it the next best thing. Rarely does more than a few minutes go by before someone is singing, either on stage, for someone close to them, or as part of the songwriting process. Whether you’re a folk music fan or not, the way the genre is showcased in the film will make you believe in its power and why it was so popular at that particular point in time.
Dylan is famous for his enigmatic personality, and Mangold does a great job of maintaining that elusiveness while still exploring what drove Dylan early in his career. His relationships with Baez and the fictional Sylvie Russo (Elle Fanning) give him some dimension, but why he continually went back-and-forth between them (or why they put up with him) is only lightly explored. The film keeps most of the drama focused on the music, and it’s this decision that makes it as compelling as it is.
Chalamet has been “The Next Big Thing” since his Oscar nomination for Call Me By Your Name, but the combination of the Duneseries, Wonka, and now this has firmly established him as the star he is. His Dylan impersonation (including singing) is subtle-yet-clear, and he has the cool factor that makes him completely believable in the role. The supporting cast is also off-the-charts good, with Norton and Barbaro making the best cases for awards notice.
While 2024 has had its fair share of great movies, A Complete Unknown — in this critic’s opinion — should now be the favorite to win Best Picture at next year’s Oscars. It bucks the trend of mediocre music biopics by giving moviegoers the transporting feeling of what it was like to experience Dylan’s meteoric rise, and why his early songs remain so indelible.
