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DVD Review: “Inside Llewyn Davis” Written & Directed by Joel & Ethan Coen

By on April 7, 2014

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DAN WALKER ON FILM

 

 

 

 

Cast:

Oscar Isaac (“Drive”, “The Bourne Legacy”)

Carey Mulligan (“Drive”, “An Education”, “The Great Gatsby”)

Everyone else is light supporting

Running Time:  104 Minutes

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Inside Llewin DavisI consider myself a fan of the Coen Brothers but, other than the TV commercials referencing the inclusion of “Inside Llewyn Davis” on 2013 Top Ten lists and its high RottenTomatoes rating, there wasn’t enough to inspire me to see it in the theatre.  Now I understand why the film had not been recommended to me, and it’s not because it’s a bad movie.

Set in 1961 in (mostly) New York City, Llewyn Davis (Isaac) is the surviving (suicide) half of a moderately successful folk duo.  The movie follows him during a grinding week of looking for and finding work and places to stay.  A rotating group of friends and fans let him spend the night since he has no home.  If his professional and domestic lives aren’t unstable enough, he feels responsible for fellow folk musician Jean’s (Mulligan) pregnancy and offers to pay for her abortion, which is tough for someone who’s broke.  When he resigns himself to rejoining the merchant marines in order to make a living, he finds that he’s behind on his dues and, when he pays them, still isn’t allowed to join.  Llewyn hits roadblocks and resistance every direction he turns.

inside llewin davis bleak

While most of the film is set in NYC, this shot is from Llewyn’s Chicago trip. Bleakest.

While the movie typifies the Coen brothers excellent storytelling and movie making, the bleak plot and bleaker New York City winter backdrop don’t make for particularly enjoyable or satisfying viewing.  The aimlessness of the plot makes for a similar viewing experience, although there’s never a dull moment.  For people who are fans of that music, period, and place (specifically Greenwich Village), “Inside Llewyn Davis” will come across as a romanticized and gritty depiction of all three.  One thing the movie isn’t lacking is authenticity; nothing is sugar-coated.

inside llewin davis timberlakeIsaac is convincing as Davis, as is Mulligan as the mostly-angry Jean.  F. Murray Abraham, Max Casella, John Goodman, Garrett Hedlund, and Justin Timberlake (right, with Isaac) are all good in limited roles.  The songs and their performances are good and immediately bring to mind “Oh Brother, Where Are Thou?”  T-Bone Burnett produced music on both films.

inside llewin davis catThe movie’s poster is misleading in that it gives the impression the cat is Davis’ companion throughout the movie.  It isn’t.  Being an animal lover and cat owner, there are several scenes I didn’t like.  First, Davis accidentally lets out Ulysses, the cat owned by a well-to-do couple who let him spend the night from time to time.  Mistaking a different cat for Ulysses later, he picks up the cat off the street then later leaves him with eccentric and condescending jazz musician Roland Taylor (Coen staple Goodman) in a car Llewyn deserts while on a Chicago trip.  The depiction of what happens to yet another cat on the road and immediately after will stick with me for a while.   The meaning behind the cat theme went over my head.   I’m not alone.  Here’s someone’s theory about the cats: http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/12/whats-really-going-on-with-the-cat-in-em-inside-llewyn-davis-em-a-theory/282583/

There are other parts of the film I likewise didn’t understand, like the beatings Llewyn takes from the same guy (both times for Lewis yelling at the audience) in the alley when he leaves the same club at the beginning and end of the movie.  Maybe they’re just beatings from an angry guy and nothing more.  I guess the Dylan scene is meant to give the movie some attachment to the real world and a significance to the time and place.

inside dave van ronkAlthough the character Llewyn Davis is fictional, he’s clearly based on Dave Van Ronk.  The cover of the album “Inside Dave Van Ronk” even has a cat on it and Davis, with longish hair and beard, physically resembles Van Ronk.

SPOILER ALERT:

If Ulysses hadn’t returned home at the end of the film, I’d have found it hard to sleep that night.

When I finished watching “Inside Llewyn Davis”, I told myself I’d never see it again , mostly because of the disturbing cat scenes.  In writing about the movie, however, I think I’ll get a lot out of another viewing.  I just have to be in the right mood for it.

DPW

April 7, 2014

The only reason I know the lead character is based on Dave Von Ronk, who I’d never heard of before, was that it was a Jeopardy clue/question last week.

Isaac and Mulligan play a husband and wife in “Drive”, a movie everyone but me likes.

Because Coen Brothers movies are events for their fans, I thought about ranking them but the thought of trying gives me a headache.  Instead, I’ll just say that favorites that come to mind are “Fargo”, “The Hudsucker Proxy”, “True Grit”, “Miller’s Crossing”, “Burn After Reading”, ”O Brother, Where Art Thou?” and “No Country For Old Men.”   I watch all of those films at least once a year.  I didn’t like “Raising Arizona” (mostly due to my aversion to Nicolas Cage) or “The Ladykillers” (ditto Tom Hanks) and couldn’t finish “Intolerable Cruelty.”  I liked “Blood Simple”, “Barton Fink”, “The Man Who Wasn’t There” (especially the beautiful black and white camera work), and “A Serious Man’ but not enough to see them more than once.  I know this is irrational, but the goofy fan mania of “The Big Lebowski” completely ruined that movie for me.

About Dan Walker

As part of an Air Force family, I went to elementary school in Great Falls, MT, junior high in Cheyenne, WY and high school and college in the San Francisco Bay Area, graduating from San Francisco State University with a degree in business. I was fortunate to have worked for great companies in Silicon Valley (Oracle Corp) and Hollywood (Miramax Films). I also lived and worked (primarily in financial services, which has no great companies) for eight years in Manhattan, New York City. I now reside in New York's beautiful Hudson Valley.

3 comments on “DVD Review: “Inside Llewyn Davis” Written & Directed by Joel & Ethan Coen”

  1. Jeremy Walker on said:

    Excellent review. Thanks again Dan.

    Reply ↓
  2. Pablorojo on said:

    It’s odd how a week goes by so quickly yet so slowly at the same time in this film. The contrast of the romantic music on stage and the brutal life of a performer offstage as you point out, Dan, is naturally drawn, and we begin to feel comfortable or about as comfortable as Llewyn feels couch surfing. There is never a dull moment, as you say, but the plot is only “seemingly” aimless. Why aren’t we bored? The music, sweet as it is? The settings, bleak as they are? The acting, right down to the plastic Justin Timberlake? All of the above. But to be fair to Justin, this is a film of no likable characters, which makes them all recognizable, too recognizable.

    Reply ↓
  3. DPW on said:

    Thanks for the thoughtful comments, Pablo (or is it Mr. Rojo?). Is it too late for me to cut and paste your assessment into my review?

    Despite my initial response and because of the questions brought up in writing the review, I watched the movie again last night. You’re right in that the story really isn’t aimless as much as the character is untethered and the viewer is likewise never allowed stable footing. Our hope that something good will happen to Llewyn is repeatedly left empty.

    Timberlake’s casting is more appropriate than it first seems. At first it seems gratuitous. He’s clearly meant to be a different type of person than Llewyn, which makes him a good foil for Llewyn, both musically and romantically. Timberlake is a tabloid semi-staple, former Mouseketeer, and member of a platinum-album selling boy band. He represents the antithesis of the struggling pure musician, as exemplified by his character’s clean-cut appearance. We’re meant to not like him.

    Upon my second viewing:

    – I now understand the cats were used as a metaphor for Llewyn’s life. Llewyn, however unintentionally, does to the cats what life is doing to Llewyn.

    – In focusing more on his character, even though Garrett Hedlund (who I didn’t recognize the first time I saw the film) had minimal dialogue, he was used so much more effectively than he was as the lead in 2010’s big-budget and disappointing “Tron: Legacy.” In this film, you can tell he’s a real actor.

    – The beatings Llewyn takes at the beginning and end of the movie are the same beating. The entire movie in between is a flashback. I guess I understand showing the beating at the beginning was for the purposes of getting the viewer’s attention but it didn’t add value for me. It would have been more effective to only show the beating at the end to punctuate the point that everything works against Llewyn.

    – I noticed in the credits that Marcus Mumford from Mumford & Sons was associate music producer. He also arranged and performed several songs in the film, although he didn’t appear in it. If you’re not familiar, here is a video for Mumford & Sons’ I Will Wait:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGKfrgqWcv0

    Consider it the poster song for not giving up on new artists and music, which most people do after a certain age. Our choices are not limited to Justin Beiber, Kanye West, Katy Perry, and Beyonce.

    Reply ↓

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