Starring Oscar Isaac and John Goodman, guest reviewer Lisa Drittenbas reviews “Inside Llewyn Davis” about the life of a young folk singer.
INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS
CBS FILMS
WRITTEN and DIRECTED BY: Joel & Ethan Coen
PRODUCED BY: Scott Rudin, Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
CAST: Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, John Goodman, Garrett Hedlund, Justin Timberlake
Studio Synopsis:
INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS follows a week in the life of a young folk singer as he navigates the Greenwich Village folk scene of 1961.
LLEWYN DAVIS (OSCAR ISAAC) is at a crossroads. Guitar in tow, huddled against the unforgiving New York winter, he is struggling to make it as a musician against seemingly insurmountable obstacles—some of them of his own making. Living at the mercy of both friends and strangers, scaring up what work he can find, Llewyn’s misadventures take him from the baskethouses of the Village to an empty Chicago club—on an odyssey to audition for a music mogul —and back again.
Brimming with music performed by Isaac, Justin Timberlake and Carey Mulligan (as Llewyn’s married Village friends), as well as Marcus Mumford and Punch Brothers, INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS—in the tradition of O Brother, Where Art Thou?—is infused with the transportive sound of another time and place. An epic on an intimate scale, it represents the Coen Brothers’ fourth collaboration with multiple-Grammy® and Academy Award®-winning music producer T Bone Burnett. Marcus Mumford is associate music producer.
[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuQ8pz-5WLY’]Lisa’s Take:
“Inside Llewyn Davis” is an intimate portrait of a talented but unlucky singer struggling to survive in Greenwich Village’s 1961 folk music scene. Oscar Isaac plays a brooding Llewyn Davis, a troubled and unappreciated artist with a manager that screws him and a partner that committed suicide.
The film begins with a complete acoustic performance of “Hang Me, Oh Hang Me,” which sets the tone for Davis’ nihilistic character, full of pride but homeless, floating from couch to couch with no money and no success. Resentful, he can’t maintain relationships with any of the quirky characters he often pisses off, including his bitter ex-lover, played by Carey Mulligan, and an uptown bookish couple who occasionally take him in. In fact, the only enduring relationship is with the couple’s cat, which he loses and finds, and eventually abandons in one of the most heart wrenching scenes of the movie.
Background music is noticeably absent, which makes the stark, acoustical performances the real stars of the show. The music is produced by T-Bone Burnett (who also worked with the Coens on “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”) with help from Marcus Mumford. The crispness and authenticity of the music stands out against an otherwise quiet backdrop. Isaac’s singing is amazing and moving, but it seems like we, the viewers, are the only ones who know it.
In a last ditch effort before he rejoins the merchant marines, Davis sings an a cappella ending for a producer who listens impassively and responds, “I don’t really see any money here.” Davis trudges off in the snow, and by this time (about 100 minutes into the movie) we are wondering where Llewyn Davis is going as much as he is.
Justin Timberlake has a relatively small role, and because of his star status he seems out of place as the bland, steadfast lover of Davis’ ex, part of a Peter, Paul and Mary-type trio with her. He is one of the few people in Davis’ life that helps him earn money, something that Davis doesn’t seem to appreciate. In an entertaining performance with Timberlake, they record the campy, “Please Mr. Kennedy,” along with Adam Driver.
Full of Coen Brother’s typically quirky characters, such as a convulsing John Goodman and his mysterious poet-driver who is arrested, leaving Davis stranded outside Chicago, the quietness of the movie begs for some kind of thoughtful ending. But the last scene is a repeat of the first, only in more detail, and we learn why Davis was beaten up by a tall stranger.
Overall, the stars of the film are Oscar Isaac, who portrays a soulful, troubled character who nobody seems to like (not even himself), and his music, which he performs beautifully. In fact, the real message of the film may be in the music itself, a mixture of American folk songs and Irish ballads, such as “500 Miles,” “The Roving Gambler,” “The Shoals of Herring,” and “The Auld Triangle,” songs full of hard work, loneliness, and angst.
“Inside Llewyn Davis” won the Gran Prix award at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, which means it got second place. I would not personally rank it that high, due to a weak storyline especially toward the end, but Oscar Isaac’s performance was flawless and this film showcases the revival of a musical style that has depth and soul.