Something is happening here and, given the hoopla over “A Complete Unknown,” probably even Mr. Jones has an idea what it is: Bob Dylan mania. Thanks to James Mangold’s new film, America is currently experiencing a spike of collective fascination with Dylan that probably hasn’t peaked quite this high since 1965, when the events of the biopic wrap up.

Thankfully, “A Complete Unknown” has turned out to be a thoughtful treatment as well as a crowd-pleasing one that, against most odds, seems to be equally bowling over deeply Dylan-informed boomers and younger audiences that might have Timothée Chalamet as their first point of entry into this world. As a filmmaker, Mangold doesn’t try to solve the mysteries of Dylan for moviegoers. But it appears he’s given them something they like even better than easy psychological tropes: electricity.

Variety talked with Mangold about the challenges in structuring the...