With 4 films and 3 Best Picture nominations, the Coen brothers enjoyed an incredibly productive period between 2007 and 2010 and experienced some astounding success with True Grit (a movie that went on to become the second highest grossing Western of all time). Since then however, the writing-directing duo have been relatively quiet and after a 3 year long hiatus, they have finally returned with Inside Llewyn Davis, a film that comes with minimal box office appeal and an obscure subject matter to say the least.
New York City. It’s 1961 (yet another Coen film set in a very specific year) and down on his luck folk singer Llewyn Davis is going through one hell of a week. With no permanent address and perennially bouncing around the couches of various friends and family members, Llewyn’s records also happen to not be selling very well and his incompetent manager isn’t much help either. And what proceeds to unfold is a chain of events that are all seemingly pitted against him. Facing a return to the dreary life of a sailor on a merchant vessel, Llewyn is slowly and steadily coming to the realization that his unlikely dream of becoming a successful musician may be proving to be a bust. Throw in a lost cat, a constant lack of money and a general overall sense of the inevitable and you quickly get the feeling that Llewyn’s world is crumbling all around him and he’s helpless to do anything about it.
This film has a great cast and even Coen regular John Goodman makes a brief appearance but this is the story of Llewyn Davis and this is Oscar Isaac’s show. Audiences may recognize him from his brief appearance in Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive or as the villainous orderly in Sucker Punch but his work here is clearly a major breakthrough. He’s a natural in this role and blends in nicely; it feels like he’s been a Coen brothers regular for years. What we have with Llewyn Davis is a critique of the quintessential long-suffering and misunderstood artist. Far too caught up in his own tragedy, Llewyn is clearly a gifted and talented musician but he just doesn’t have what it takes to become a success. Giving up everything to pursue his passion as a folk singer, he is desperate to find some way to resuscitate his dream, and amidst that struggle, we get glimpses at what made him the despairing figure he is in the film. Many of the characters he meets and encounters are essentially just tourists in the melodrama that is Llewyn’s life. Or perhaps, he’s the tourist drifting through their lives; it’s all a matter of perspective really. The tragic fate of his former partner is mentioned from time to time and while Llewyn doesn’t explicitly say so, it clearly has had a profound effect on him. He harbors a love for a taken woman who doesn’t particularly want to share in his dreams or in his love. He sees his father, a sad and senile old man unaware of his surroundings and drifting around aimlessly waiting for death and fears the same for himself.
While this isn’t the greatest or most thematically rich and complex example of the Coen Brother’s work, it still makes for an an interesting if not compelling character study. Much like other Coen brothers films such as The Man Who Wasn’t There and A Serious Man, a seemingly endless series of misfortunes relentlessly keep piling on and on the protagonist but in the case of Inside Llewyn Davis, Llewyn seems to be the cause of his own undoing and the source of all those misfortunes. Llewyn is cold and flippant with people, rude and brazen at times when he shouldn’t be and he frequently says what’s on his mind with very little sensitivity to the person or the context of the situation. He simply doesn’t know how to treat people well and yet expects something different in return. He exhibits an unpleasant air of superiority about his work and his talent and frequently experiences pangs of jealousy when it comes to other musicians. When Llewyn gets saddled with an unwanted box of his albums, he subsequently finds an eerily similar box of albums of the work of a fellow musician whom Llewyn considers to be a talentless joke (perhaps a painful reminder that he isn’t that special or that different from the people he looks down upon). A jaded man who is tired of life and tired of resisting what appears to be a ceaseless tide fighting against him, you still can’t help but root for him inspite of his general unpleasantness. All that plagues him in his personal life seems to be what plagues his music career as well: his failure to make an emotional connection with others. We catch glimpses of opportunities at success or perhaps simply at happiness throughout that fateful week, but Llewyn chooses not to capitalize on them or just fails to see them at all.
Even though this isn't a prototypical Coen brothers film, Inside Llewyn Davis shares many themes and parallels with the rest of their work. Their trademark black humour is present in little snippets and moments but for the most part, this is a detached filmgoing experience, even by Coen standards. There’s very little levity or sunshine to be found here. It’s a cold and heartless world and Llewyn Davis, try as he might, just can’t find a nice and safe spot to call his own in it. It’s never a certain thing with a Coen brothers movie, but more or less, this film is about the often crushing inevitability of life and its lack of interest in your dreams or your own petty struggles. Everything recedes and all your hopes and worries become nothing but a single drop in one big uncaring world. But in the middle of all this bleakness, what this film also shows is that we ultimately have the choice to make the most out of the cards we're dealt and find some happiness in life. This is a choice that Llewyn continually fails to make, thus becoming the latest in a series of Coen film protagonists who can't comprehend their lot in life and who refuse to acknowledge their power in influencing it.
And while this film does have a pretty straightforward narrative, it does go along at a meandering pace that may frustrate some and bore others. However, the appeal here isn't the narrative. If someone were to ask this writer what was most memorable about this film, it wasn’t really a single scene or one bit of dialogue. Rather, it is the general forlorn tone and mood that sticks with you and haunts you. Although the cinematography wasn’t the work of Coens’ regular Roger Deakins, it is definitely one of the mood-setting strengths of this film. Dark blue tinged hues dominate the environs of Llewyn’s world and perfectly capture the tone of this story; it is the middle of a cold and unforgiving winter in Llewyn’s life both literally and figuratively speaking. The folk music that the characters play quite regularly throughout this film is catchy and very melancholic and gives you a very immersive feel for the bleakness of Llewyn’s world as well.
Verdict: Navigating the folk scene of 1960s Greenwich Village was never going to appeal to everyone and this film has a select audience that will enjoy it and even fewer who will love it but for all its limitations and drawbacks, this is still a well made and well told story that may resonate with some and give some food for thought for others.
B
Trailer:
Movie info:
Runtime: 104 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Cast: Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, Justin Timberlake, John Goodman
Director: Joel & Ethan Coen
Screenplay: Joel & Ethan Coen
Cinematography: Bruno Delbonnel
No comments:
Post a Comment