Review of Inside Llewyn Davis (2013) by Ibbste — 05 Jul 2014

The Most Brutally Honest Artists' Statement in Modern Cinema.

I think the Coen brothers' most profound gift is their ability to translate any message, text, or emotion to film. To me, INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS is so special because of its brutal honesty of what it looks like, for most people, to pursue your artistic dream. And it's a damn shame. We see people come and go every day with the talent of Llewyn Davis, the titular character at the heart of the film, but through a very distinctly Coen combination of situation, lack of luck, and very particular misjudgments throughout the course of his life prevent him from ever reaching the reputation he may or may not have deserved (but could very well have reached it under different circumstances, which is the larger point).

Oscar Isaac completely disappears into his performance as Llewyn Davis, someone who may appear as a very average person in the streets of New York who has as many dreams and ambition as anyone else. But he's not a perfect person — he doesn't have the foresight or moral flexibility it might have taken for him to have made a more comfortable living out of the passion of his life. Oscar is able to wear this character like a perfectly fit glove, but he made it fit; years from now, people will be wondering why he wasn't aptly recognized for this work in his own time. The performance itself is an intricate, if modest, masterpiece.

Another strength of the Coens' is their ability to bring out the best of their cinematographers. The camerawork from Bruno Delbonnel will, at any given moment, visually clue the audience into the place, position, and state of mind into this central character's mindset through color, focus, framing, and detail. Cinema is, first and foremost, a visual medium; and, as such, both Joel and Ethan Coen know what director of photography to trust most to convey the thousands of words they have to say with each frame.

Finally, what makes this more than a worthy look is the work of Mr. T-Bone Burnett himself. The soundtrack of this film is easily the best in the world of music in its year and helps this film to transcend into a world of poetic irony that has little else but the decibel of its own understated 60s-era East Village earnestness to cry out with.

The Coen brothers themselves tend to seem like shy and introverted individuals. And it's only them who could have painted such a rich and painfully honest portrait with the very artistry they excel at. This is a look at art that crosses every possible medium. The Coens are asking us, "how many geniuses have slipped through the crack? What kind of beauty has been made in any field that I've never been privileged enough to experience? Are we ever really at the ends of the spectrum of possibility of the art we so enjoy to indulge in when such brilliant voices can never quite break through?" It's almost a message of humility — that their ability to tell this man's story is the minimum they can offer back to their audiences for the good fortune they themselves have had to be able to tell such stories in the first place. And, appropriately, they've crafted a film that wasn't properly appreciated by their own successful peers in its own time. The truthful tone will turn many audiences off from its message, but INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS is one of the most essential film offerings of the new millennium thus far.