James Mangold is a dependable director of actors whose films too often settle for familiar writing. We like him most when a song or a courtship takes over and he gives the performers time to make it convincing.
Fi1m perspective
In A Complete Unknown (2024), James Mangold lets a verse play before cutting to the people listening. With editors Scott Morris and Andrew Buckland, he gives the songs time to finish and Chalamet space to make Dylan's singing matter. That patience is his most useful habit. When the performers have something worth doing, we can see why he would rather stay with them than hurry on.
His independent debut, Heavy (1995), was followed by Cop Land (1997) and Girl, Interrupted (1999). Walk the Line (2005) marked a step up in recognition, and the work later took in 3:10 to Yuma (2007) and Logan (2017). Moving into larger studio productions has not greatly changed his approach to actors. He looks for a character we can follow and an emotion the performance can make clear.
Walk the Line makes the strongest case for that approach among the films we have reviewed. Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon give its courtship enough conviction to keep the familiar account of Johnny Cash's troubles from taking over. The early package tours let work and attraction happen together, and Mangold gives both actors time to establish what draws the couple to each other. His screenplay with Gill Dennis is less patient with everyone else, particularly Ginnifer Goodwin's underwritten Vivian Cash. The romance works better than the explanations for Cash's behaviour.
The Dylan film has the opposite problem: Mangold and co-writer Jay Cocks keep asking who their subject is, then accepting his silence. We grew restless when the story moved from clubs to bedrooms, because each unanswered question left us waiting for another song. Chalamet's singing is worth that wait, but the women are given little to do beyond being disappointed in him. Refusing to invent an explanation for Dylan is respectable. Repeating the question does not make the scenes more interesting.
In Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023), Mangold gives Harrison Ford room to make the adventurer's age felt. Ford's weariness is affecting, but the film keeps returning to chases, and 155 minutes is too much. Logan had already shown Mangold handling a tired hero with fewer distractions and more nerve. Start with Walk the Line; approach the longer adventures with more caution.
Biography
James Allen Mangold is an American film director, screenwriter and producer. He was born in New York City on 16 December 1963 and studied at the California Institute of the Arts and Columbia University.
Mangold made his feature directorial debut with Heavy (1995). He went on to direct Cop Land (1997), Girl, Interrupted (1999), Identity (2003), Walk the Line (2005), 3:10 to Yuma (2007), The Wolverine (2013), Logan (2017), Ford v Ferrari (2019) and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023). He also wrote the screenplay for the last of these.
Mangold directed, co-wrote and produced the Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown (2024).
