Cinematography:
Bruno DelbonnelCast:
Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, Justin Timberlake, John Goodman, Garrett Hedlund, Adam Driver, F. Murray Abraham, Max Casella, Ethan Phillips, Robin Bartlett (more)Plots(1)
Follow a week in the life of a young folk singer as he navigates the Greenwich Village folk scene of 1961. 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. (official distributor synopsis)
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Reviews (10)
Inside Llewyn Davis is a film that has provoked remarkably contradictory reactions. Film critics nodded approvingly and spoke of the most fundamental music film of the decade, and perhaps the most fundamental film ever devoted to folk music. The music scene shook its head disapprovingly and claimed that it was not like that, or rather that it perceived that time, events, and places that were described completely differently. The reality is this: the Greenwich Village neighborhood has an exceptional place in American cultural tradition. It was the neighborhood of famous writers, freethinkers, and bohemians, where non-conforming individuals of all possible categories and social classes gathered. In the 1930s, they broke social taboos and opened the front door of the music club to African Americans. The local society consumed drugs and practiced free love long before the hippie movement emerged. In the early 1960s, the folk revolution started there. Numerous amateur enthusiasts emerged, clubs sprouted up like mushrooms after rain, and musical performances became common in bars and cafés. Folk blossomed and merged with rock and other genres. Today's musicians largely associate the birth of modern music, as we know it today, with Greenwich Village and the time period in which the film is set. In their eyes, it is an amazingly positive, innovative, energetic, and romantic matter. However, the Coens approached it from the other side. Every revolution has its victims and losers. Overnight, new stars overwhelmed familiar faces of the past, enthusiasts had no problem performing for free, and professionals found themselves without engagements. The directing duo loosely drew from the memoirs of folk singer Dave Van Ronk, who did not stand a chance in the fierce competition. In their interpretation, the story of the main character has a gloomy atmosphere; it is the story of a man who sinks to the bottom and doesn't know how to defend himself. It is a depressing matter where bleak prospects intertwine with the self-destructive character of the protagonist. Personally, I argue that it is one of the best Coen pieces, an intimate experience that I fell in love with. However, you will have to be okay with the fact that the film has a melancholic tone and a slow pace. Overall impression: 90%.
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At certain moments, the uncomfortably familiar feeling of being lost, weary, and lonely during the grayest American winter in many years. It could perhaps be argued that the muted colors go a little too far in the overall bleakness of the film, but to its credit it is constant in its mood throughout and doesn't really offer any way out that would otherwise kind of belie itself. A surreal journey of several days to Chicago, where time stretches out into a seemingly endless black mass from which there is no escape, as all around is a frost-covered wasteland bordered by cones of car lights, is the Coen brothers' darkest period. "I'm tired. I thought I just needed a night's sleep but it's more than that."
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The saddest film by the Coen brothers with their unrivaled, least sympathetic protagonist. It sounds like a bittersweet folk hit about a guy who was out of it his entire life. You know exactly where the verse, the chorus and the specific rhyme belong. And that's the power of a simple song that crept under my skin like frost and the purring of a cat. Nothing profound, just a beautiful experience that needs no explanation / defense. [85%]
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Even though the Coen brothers maintain their poetic style and this film has absolutely great music, it's not something I would consider exceptional. The Coens are riding their absurd drama about a singer, we follow his fate, his "success" over one week, but to make the impression stronger, like him, we also do not find a resolution. Unfortunately, this isn't a film that captivated me, no matter how well it might be filmed.
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The Coen brothers and their ideas are just really fun. It’s true that they don’t always nail it, but that’s the way life is. Some things just don’t turn out well. It might be given by the fact that when it comes to the story and its atmosphere, it’s simply non-interchangeable with anything else in the industry. And I have to admit, I really enjoyed the story of the musician Llewyn Davis. I enjoyed the campfire music he sang there, I liked the cat, but I was also interested in the thought processes that put Oscar Isaac on thin ice one minute after another. I really felt like I was inside that character’s head. And that ending? It was so dreamy… I love this kind of movie endings. If you love Bob Dylan, you’ll like the movie too. The Coen brothers are just good at this.
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Photo © Universal Pictures International Spain
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