Inside Llewyn Davis

2013 movie

Rating: 17/20 (Jen: 18/20)

Plot: A week or so in the life of a folk singer as he tries to make a living with his craft, crashes at various people's homes, and takes care of kitties.

Well, here's a big surprise: I really enjoyed yet another Coen Brother movie. This one's in the same ballpark as A Serious Man or Barton Fink, at least in its method of storytelling. The story refuses to go where you expect or maybe even want it to go, and it's stubborn in its refusal to answer all of your questions. Like Man and Fink, it's a character study of a guy you're probably not supposed to like all that much, one of those human beings who is not only flawed but seems to wallow in his flaws. Here, the titular folk singer is a little arrogant, directionless, and sort of bitterly apathetic. He's just the sort of character I enjoy watching in movies and just the sort of character other people can't stand watching. The performance of Oscar Isaac is pitch perfect. There's a tragedy to the character that you can't pinpoint, and Isaac has that ability that some actors have to keep his character's past just below the surface where you can only almost see it. And the cat can sing! This isn't listed as a comedy, but I thought parts were very funny. Isaac had great comic timing, but you sort of have to expect performers in a Coen Brothers' movie to have great comic timing. Even more hilarious is Coen-regular John Goodman who gets a really great character to goof around with, a heroin-addicted jazz musician. Almost everything Roland Turner says is hilarious, offensive, or a little of both. But nearly stealing the entire movie in a brief scene in this movie made up of a bunch of brief scenes is Adam Driver during the recording of a song called "Please, Mr. Kennedy" in which his warm-ups or practicing is something that makes me laugh just thinking about it. One of those brilliant things that I guess you could see in other movies but sort of expect them in Coen Brother movies. But it's not all fun and songs in this. In fact, it's kind of bleak, bleaker maybe because of the movie's circular structure and cat confusion. I'd have to watch this again (and I will sometime) to study the structure of this bad boy and figure out what the cat(s) symbolize. And as an excuse to hear the music again. I really had a head start with this one because I am familiar with the time period and folk music scene because of my obsession with Bob Dylan. The Dylan reference in this might give the best clue about what might happen to Mr. Davis, by the way. Maybe. I guess it would really be up to him. Oh, one more thing--I really liked the way this movie looked. The Coens didn't have their usual cinematographer apparently, but this movie--like a lot of my favorite movies--was nice and gray. There's also some great period detail. Maybe I'm just easily impressed, but I'm always more impressed with contemporary movies pulling off 1920's-1960's. How do they do that?