What exactly is a movie musical? Wikipedia defines it as “a film genre in which songs by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film’s themes or characters, but in some cases, they serve merely as breaks in the storyline.”

Therefore James Mangold‘s A Complete Unknown is obviously and unmistakably a movie musical. The songs aren’t personal-expression songs in a classic musical sense, and yet on another level they are, certainly in Bob Dylan‘s case. They also express themes and feelings that emanate from the social-political climate of the early to mid ’60s. It’s a magical mystical tour of that era.

The bottom line is that Mangold’s 141-minute film is wall-to-wall singing and performing. According to producer Fred Berger, Chalamet sings 40 Dylan songs in the film, and that’s obviously not counting the Pete Seeger, Joan Baez and Johnny Cash songs that are also performed. (The Complete Unknown soundtack vinyl album contains 16 tracks; the CD version contains 23 tracks.)

Wicked is also a musical, of course, but a bit less of one in terms of the humber of stand-alone musical compositions. If you don’t count the orchestral opening and finale, 12 songs are performed by Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Jeff Goldblum and others.

And yet the insanely corrupt Golden Globe nominations have categorized Wicked as a musical but A Complete Unknown as a drama.

The Globe nominees for BEST MOTION PICTURE – MUSICAL OR COMEDY are Anora (sporadically hilarious but hardly a “comedy”), Challengers (doesn’t even flirt with being a comedy or a musical), Emilia Perez (obviously a musical), A Real Pain (contains amusing dialogue while while adhering to a light farcical tone), The Substance (an exploitation body-horror film) and Wicked (a full-on musical).