Which Format Is Best To Watch A Complete Unknown In The Cinema?

In A Complete Unknown, Timothée Chalamet swaps the sandy vistas of Arrakis of (Dune, Dune: Part Two) for the streets, bars, and bedrooms of 1960s New York in the biographical musical drama film of folk singer Bob Dylan. It’s also a change of pace for director James Mangold, whose previous work includes more thrill and action-heavy movies such as Logan (2017), Ford v Ferrari (2019), and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023).

If you’re interested in seeing and hearing the film about the songwriting legend, which cinema format is the ideal one to go for?

While action blockbusters tend to have myriad format choices things are simpler for a more artisan movie such as A Complete Unknown, and there are no out-there choices such as 4DX or ScreenX. Unfortunately, it also looks like there is no HDR by Barco grade: it still seems as if it’s early days for the format.

Should you go large?

Cinematographer Phedon Papamichael shot the movie digitally on a Sony Venice 2 digital camera in 8.6K to create a 4K digital intermediate. As he explains in this Sony promo video, Papamichael chose it partly for its low-light abilities, enabling him to capture New York at night without requiring extra backlights.

The aspect ratio is 2.39:1 in all theaters; a sure indicator that it was not shot with IMAX in mind. Nevertheless, you can still, “Experience it in IMAX” – to use the company's marketing tagline. However, there are no expanded aspect ratios on show here, and the movie will play letterboxed on the 1.90:1 screens, with black bars on the top and bottom.

One thing to be aware of is that not all IMAX screens are created equal. Older IMAX digital projectors use Xenon lamps, which could suffer from loss of brightness and are paired with six-channel sound, which while still impressive, play second fiddle to the upgraded 12-channel system in IMAX theaters that feature laser projection for brighter, more color-vibrant images.

The upmarket rival

The premium format rival to IMAX is Dolby Cinema. As with most major releases, a Dolby Vision grade of the film has been produced, which means it will take full advantage of the format’s benefits – namely dual-laser 4K projection delivering brightness up to 108nits, enabling it to provide an extended dynamic range, with true blacks and intense whites in the same frame, which lends itself to more immersive storytelling.

The visuals are also backed with Dolby Atmos audio, which can match IMAX audio for power and detail, and outdoes it for precise positioning of sounds.

The third component of Dolby Cinema is the layout and décor, which is designed to maximize image quality and comfort, so expect dark walls, luxury recliners, and well-angled seating, so you don’t have to peer past anyone’s head. There’s often also an LCD wall as you enter, which looks cool and helps set the mood.

If you like the sound of that, you still need to find a Dolby Cinema near you. In the USA, AMC offers hundreds of locations with the format, but other countries are not so blessed. For example, there are just six in the UK and three of those are in London.

The big alternative

If there isn’t a Dolby Cinema near you the good news is that there are decent alternatives that are likely to be easier to find. These are the proprietary premium large formats (PLFs) offered by most major cinema chains, which, bar some differences, offer a larger than standard floor-to-ceiling screen, 4K laser projection, Dolby Atmos audio, and comfortable seats.

You don’t get the extended dynamic range of Dolby Cinema projection but, in my experience, it’s still a far better option than standard.

In the USA the best-known PLFs are Prime at AMC, Regal RPX, Cinemark XD, Cineplex UltraAVX, and Xtreme Xscape. In the UK, these go under the guise of Cineworld Superscreen, Odeon iSense and OmniplexMAXX.

This makes my order of preference for A Complete Unknown as

- Dolby Cinema

- PLF

- IMAX Laser

- IMAX Xenon.