Review of Inside Llewyn Davis (2013) by Andy G — 11 Jul 2014
The Coen Brothers are undoubtedly the masters of the shaggy dog story, but sometimes it's just the way you tell 'em, and that's where the filmmakers excel.
Inside Llewyn Davis is about a week in the life of a struggling New York folk singer during the early 1960's, trying to raise a buck in fleapit gigs and make money off his failing album, while dealing with domestic affairs.
Oscar Isaac does a brilliant job in a role which would probably have gone to Coen's stalwart John Turturro a decade ago (before he flushed his career down the toilet by appearing in the Transformers movies).
The real assets of this film are the folk music soundtrack and Bruno Delbonnel's atmospheric cinematography, taking over the cameraman reins from the Coen's usual director of photography Roger Deakins and perhaps proving himself to be the man for the job henceforth. His work makes this easily the 'best looking' film of the past year.
It's not an easy watch if you're not a budding musician or a fan of the Coen Brothers' other movies, but definitely worth watching if you are.
This review of Inside Llewyn Davis (2013) was written by Andy G on 11 Jul 2014.
Inside Llewyn Davis has generally received very positive reviews.
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