Review of Inside Llewyn Davis (2013) by Gavin S — 27 Mar 2014

Inside Llewyn Davis.

Joel and Ethan Coen co-wrote and co-created another unique masterpiece. Inside Llewyn Davis begins in a dimly lit underground dive bar in New York City; the only lights were shining bright on Llewyn Davis (Oscar Isaac) and his guitar. He starts singing, "Hang Me, Oh Hang Me" and his melodic voice takes you down a trip. Llewyn Davis takes you down his path, but it's not necessarily going down a yellow brick road where you find a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. Llewyn is just living the life of a struggling folk artist. He bounces from house to house, and the only real companionship he shares is with an orange tabby cat that isn't even his. Llewyn Davis is a wonderful depiction of how life can turn its back on you but you still keep on living.

Llewyn Davis is definition of a flawed character. The funny thing about this is, Llewyn is very aware of his flaws but he just doesn't care so much about it. He's a little blunt, chauvinistic, he's bitter and doesn't make the best decisions and that is just who he is. It's no wonder that in the first scene after his live performance that he ends up getting beat up by a "friend" of his wearing a pinstripe suit in an alley behind the bar. The beating came out of nowhere, but it turns out that Llewyn actually had it coming in a humorous turn of events.

Llewyn heads out into the world, 1961; before he goes out the door though he acquires his furry companion running out with the door closing and locking behind him. He's stuck with a nameless cat and jumps to another couch. He stays at his friends Jim (Justin Timberlake) and Jean's (Carey Mulligan) house. During his stay there, he finds out that Jean, Jim's girlfriend is pregnant and he previously slept with her, so she has no idea who the father of her child is and decides to have an abortion. He wakes up to a cereal-slurping square of a soldier Troy Nelson (Stark Sands). His only reaction to how plain this guy was a condescending, "So do you just go and plug yourself in somewhere?" Turns out, Troy Nelson is also a folk singer and his future is looking a lot brighter than that of Llewyn Davis.

He later gets a nice break when he's offered a part on a recording his friend Jim is doing for Columbia Records. The song was titled, "Please Mr. Kennedy" a take on the space race and the journey to the moon. It was upbeat and catchy and interjected ridiculous one-liners by featured country singer Al Cody, who would come in on the beat and bellow in a deep southern voice, "Outer" then wait a sec and shout "Space". Llewyn, in need of immediate cash sold his royalty rights to the song away. He had no problem doing that since he believed the song to be completely below him, consequently the song turns out to be a hit.

Llewyn later takes a gig opportunity by traveling to Chicago. He rode along with a big ol' jazz artist that was indisposed for at half the time. When he woke up from his first slumber, he introduced himself as Roland Turner (John Goodman) he had a fancy cane and one of the worst haircuts you could come across. He then introduced the man driver the car Johnny Five (Garrett Hedlund) as in, "This is my vallet, Johnny Five." The camera then pans to Llewyn's expressionless face before going back to Turner, "... Johnny Five." Johnny fit the description too. He looked like he could've been hanging out with Johnny Depp in The Outsiders, greasy gangster kind of vibe. He didn't say much either, so that made him even more mysterious. Llewyn did make it to Chicago, but getting there was definitely the journey in this case.

Inside Llewyn Davis is a story that is just as similar as yours or mine. A song that Llewyn sings repeatedly in the film really symbolizes what life can feel like sometimes, "If I had wings like Noah's dove, I'd fly the river to the one I love. Fare thee well my honey fare thee well." The song is titled, "Fare the Well (Dink's Song)", Llewyn sings it alone when it is it actually written as a duet, with a partner that he can't get back together with.

The script is clever and funny and surrounds you with great personal interaction between all of the characters and Llewyn. All of the performances in the movie were done live, which is very impressive for a film and especially for the actors involved. It's refreshing, uses a darker humor in a charming way, and the story is a relatable struggle. Well done Joel and Ethan Coen!

My Rating: 9.6/10.