A lot of people said that this movie really hit them... First time around i didn't feel that, but what happened is that i couldn't stop thinking about it. i had to see it again, and that's where it hit me right in the hearth.
I didn't "get" it on my first viewing either, but it stuck with me. I find myself wanting to revisit it frequently now There's something about the time, the place, and the ambience that just always draws me back to it
Some will not understand the depth of this piece. Llewyn has so much talent but life slaps him in the face around every corner. It's brilliant and haunting. The music is mesmerizing. Thanks Coen brothers, bravo!
I love this film. Every time I watch it, it makes me aware of the fact that there are tons of creative, talented, and gifted people out there who are stuck behind cubicles.
I'd like to see MK revisit this. I've seen it about 5 times now and it resonates more deeply each time. It's about a man who has offended the universe somehow, and for whom the stars just won't align. When he finally gets a gig at which the New York Times critic is in attendance, he sings beautifully but the next on the bill is another unknown called Bob Dylan. As he departs to get beaten up in the alley outside, he casts an impressed glance at the stage as the young Dylan begins his set. You know who the Times piece is going to be about the next day. It's a symphony of agony. I love the phrase that this is a life that is all verse and no chorus. The latticework of mischance that prevents the chorus from being reached is subtle, cruel, but in it's own way, has a beautiful symmetry
Looking forward to seeing Her, and yes Llewyn Davis was very moving and that's not what I'd usually expect from the Coens (and they're probably my favourite filmmakers).
+Hayden Gilbert Yep. Me too and I expected to not like it or not like the music and loved both (except for Mr. Kennedy obviously)...Kermode misses the mark here.
Steve F I've watched it more times since it's release than any other recent film. And I'm still finding new things to love and more and more layers. I think Mr Kermode finally came around eventually
I think this movie has an absolutely clear point. It has a few points in fact. Its a perfectly done Coen Brothers movie that allows you the viewer to take what you take from it. The fact that there is no consensus on why its good or why its bad or if it had a true point or not is exactly the point. If you can't identify with the character you won't find it good. If you can like i do then you find it amazing. Its got a great built in motif of wrong place wrong time wrong choice. Its not about one giant choice that will crush you but those slew of choices that life throws at you and what happens if you end up picking wrong every time. Even in Llewyn's turning point moment he chooses wrong. Ulysses the cat (name is latin for Odysseus as in the main character in the Odyssey) comes around every time a choice comes around that could get Llewyn on the right path and always something happens usually self inflicted that deters him again. I believe Akron exit was his big moment and he chose again to pass it by then he almost hits the cat right after that. Or maybe he did hit the cat and it lets us know…there's more coming but this is really the end of the line. So many wrong turns for a man no matter how small they seem ultimately leave you with no where to go. So it may seem like it ended without a resolution but actually it ended with Bob Dylan, the man who Llewyn could have been had he made better choices and been in the right places at the right time, but instead he gets his ass kicked in the alley and the movie ends with his final choice. Instead of reflecting and thinking damn i gotta stop this…he smirks and takes it in stride..he accepts his mediocrity. He'll continue to be great and yet get nowhere. Anyway thats MY take on the movie I hope it makes sense for some of you that may read it.
Thanks divy13 for a very well written review. I couldn't love this movie more, also being a song-writing folksinger who has made his share of wrong choices!
divy13 Agree that Llewyn not taking the Akron exit is a big moment in the film. But watching it again I started to think it's a road that's closed to him. I'm now wondering if Diane was actually Mike's girlfriend and the reason Mike committed suicide was because she and Llewyn betrayed him. The timings add up. Diane's baby would be two years old, Mike's suicide would have been right at the point she was pregnant. And being Llewyn, he learns nothing from the experience and makes the same mistake with Jean. He's cursed to make cyclical bad choices that come around and around again, that's the irony of John Goodman's character threatening to hex him. He's already in his own curse.
This was my fav Coen bros. work yet. It expanded on the themes of Serious Man and made them more secular and all-embracing. I thought it was the most beautiful and humanizing and sincere work they've done.
Start to finish this movie never lets you go. GREAT music, beautiful storyline that revolves around a guy that just can't get a break, but never quits trying. It really looks like Greenwich Village from that era. John Goodman plays a junkie brilliantly. The whole movie just connects with the viewer. Coen Bros hit a real home run here. This movie will be entertaining people long after we're all dead. “If it was never new, and it never gets old, then it's a folk song.”
I now consider this their best movie even above 'The Big Lebowski'. That grim scene where auditions for F Murray Abraham slay, his resignation... "I don't see any money here."... "Okay. Thank you for your time." :(
That was a good scene, but lets not get carried away here. This is not anywhere near their best work here. Some good scenes here and there, but overall it is a bore.
I completely get what Kermode is saying about the self-contained aspect, and I agree that on my first viewing this separated me from a deeper connection with the film. But then after been given time to brew and after a few more viewings, this is probably my favourite film of all time. Because of its lack of explicit meaning and its self-contained element, it becomes so personal and so deep. It is life itself, wandering without direction or reason, lost and confused, eternal existence. The film is unique in that it doesn't try and be perfect or satisfy the audience. I speaks directly to the soul.
This is why I love film so much. It seems to be the only medium of art that can pack in so much subjective meaning grounded in reality. I've only heard praise about this movie and coming to this review, it's the only review that has challenged this film in a way that actually makes sense. The best part of it is that everything that he said was "wrong" with this movie were the reasons why I loved this movie. It seems like every blockbuster follows an outline and veers from it to create surprises, but movies like this completely throw away that outline and make you THINK something will happen for the cliche surprise, when in fact it doesn't go that way at all. I loved the fact that this movie basically flatlined from beginning to end in such a contained little world because it completely reflected the world that he lived in. It's such a depressive movie that ends up leaving you kind of happy in a confusing way because those positive emotions are. All those positive emotions come from how you relate directly to the movie without any twists and turns being thrown at you to sway you one way or another. The whole feeling of a contained story is something so new that it seems refreshing to me because it wasn't small in a bad way. It focused on one person and one person only, with so many hints of what came before and what is to come after. I loved it.
I loved it. Great movie, a lot of historical folk references close to the real folks . Its kind of a parallel story rather than a exact retelling . You either love the Coen broths style or you don't I do.
I really don't think the message of this film is that complicated. A lot of the Coen Brothers' films basically have this theme: characters who want to believe there's some meaning to their lives, that they're going somewhere, destined for greatness (and all the other things that are usually true of characters in Hollywood films). But life is just a series of events with little purpose behind them. If you think you're destined for greatness you're probably deluding yourself. Inside Llewyn Davis is basically the perfect vehicle for that. He's a musician who isn't completely talentless, but isn't quite good enough. You can see why he thinks he's going somewhere, but he isn't. It's far more true to life than 99% of what you'll see in any piece of cinema: a flawed character who goes nowhere. But the brilliance of the Coen Brothers is they can take that bleak premise and still make it watchable with enough comedy/entertainment for it to work as a film.
I love this film. It really encapsulates the period. Llewyn has talent but appears to be his own worst enemy. His ego gets in the way of his own success. His off putting personality undermines his talent at every turn. Success is always about befriending the right people and being in the right place at the right time. He insults the couple that has the cat, he insults the Timberlake characters song writing ability, he imposes on people. He shows up to play for F Murray Abraham out of the blue and picks a depressing medieval ballad. Also interesting thing is Abraham comments about the upbeat yokel musician Llewyn met earlier in the film as someone he likes. This is the Gomer Pyle like character that Llewyn comes across while doing session work.
BBC you missed it. He had a lot of support but it's a tough life. Unbelievably tough. He even got 'offered the peter paul and mary job. He just wasn't a front guy. He is not Dave Van Ronk or even close to that kind of success. Where you are writing your biography decades later and it inspires movies.
Just came on here to disagree with Mark again :) This is without a doubt the best film I've seen this year so far. Yes it has only been a month, but it has been a pretty impressive month - The Wolf Of Wall Street, Dallas Buyers Club, 12 Years A Slave, the not as impressive American Hustle and the slightly missed-opportunity Out Of The Furnace. It isn't the Coen's best film by far but it certainly is 'up there'. If anything, it reminds me of the open-ended existentialism (and pessimism) of A Serious Man (and to a lesser extent, Barton Fink), but also the melancholic journey of The Man Who Wasn't There (and to a lesser extent, The Big Lebowski). If you count yourself as a Coen disciple like myself, you will very much connect emotionally with the film - it seems Mark has a heart of stone sometimes, and it's a shame he doesn't feel the passion put into a film like this. It is probably the 'softest' and most subtle of the Coen's work to date, and in a similar way No Country For Old Men sat there inside you like a dark cloud this will appeal to anyone who's ever felt disappointed with themselves and certainly speaks to the human condition with both poignancy and humour (as always with the Coens). Like that film, it's a mood piece and has a gentle atmosphere to it with the usual Coen-style black humour thrown in with dialogue especially. I will say it is very much worth seeing, and it's no wonder the screening I went to was sold out - they are a much-loved pair of filmmakers and have never, ever let me down. I might be biased, but I don't particularly care - at least to me it's something special when their films come to town. It's one of the more 'different' films in their catalogue, and might be why they didn't work with regular DP Roger Deakins (at least since Barton Fink) on this one - like they did with Burn After Reading, where they used the excellent Emmanuel Lubezki. Go see it, ignore Mark.
Yup, excellent set pieces and really honest and impressive performances. The last performance of Fare Thee Well was particularly hair-raising and heartfelt.
Each performance is stellar even if some are minimized, and the direction and music complements it perfectly. The story drifts a fair amount and I honestly don't have any problem with, it's just that the marketing and promotional material for the film showcases several people that are just barely there (don't expect to see more than two scenes of Justin Timberlake and John Goodman). The marketing for this movie is actually pretty terrible. However, as with this film, I quite like drifting stories because they allow for a more realistic and first-person perspective of events. Oscar Isaac is sosososo good and his character verges on anti-hero since he's such a bad person when you think about what he does, but he gives it depth and loads of charisma. Carey Mulligan was surprisingly convincing as a sort of total bitch, which I haven't really seen from her before. The thing I was the most skeptical of was the music, but thank God it works super well. It's crucial, of course, but works because the actors the play subtle and everything feels realistic. It drags a bit, but the color pallet and coldly immersive nature helps. 8.8/10, great, two thumbs up, far above average, etc.
Mark is right, there's a lot to like about the film but there's a sense of something left unsaid. I loved the music, the acting and the touches of comedy but (without spoiling it) the end didn't give a satisfying pay-off and the plot just felt like it went out with a whimper. Some of the Coen's films are overrated (Miller's Crossing, The Big Lebowski), while one or two others (No Country for Old Men) were a pleasant surprise. Inside Llewyn Davis sits among the better ones, but the film's message isn't pressed home anywhere nearly enough.
Sometimes I think Mr Kermode just throws in these vague negative quips for the sake of giving a well rounded review. Can't you, for once, just like a film?
If a film pulls me into its world then I'll forgive it almost anything. I'd make an awful critic. And this one had me from the first minute. The only negative is that I've been thinking about the damn cat(s) ever since.
This movie is set in the time when their was still hope for America; before the JFK , RFK, & MLK murders, before Viet Nam and, inflation, and the death of democracy. That's what makes me like this movie, it shows a time that few people know about or remember.
I disagree here. The film did affect me in the way I think it was supposed to affect me. I don't think that the film was supposed to move you or make you cry, it tried to frustrate you, which is what you feel at the end. I believe that is what the idea of the film ending how it started is all about- his life was the same at the end of the film as it was at the start. I felt invested in Oscar Isaacs character throughout but never truly felt sorry for him and I wasnt meant to. Apart from that the movie did look great, the music and performances were great and it was funny so all in all I really liked the movie.
Now I'm thinking the Outer space song demonstrates how Llewyn could have been successful if he had found another partner and might even enjoy it. The song is upbeat and noticeably different from his solos but he stubbornly refuses to move on and continues his depressing ways.
Not my favourite Coen Bro's film by any means but whether I've been gripped by their films or not they always tell me something about the American psyche at a certain time and place and this film gave me a look at failure in Greenwich Village in the early sixties which I didn't get from the Scorsese documentary on Dylan for example and that made it interesting for me.
I couldn't agree more with the good Dr. I thought the acting was excellent, the look and feel of the film was exceptional, I was impressed how they took the lower East side of Manhattan back a few decades but I didn't feel that anything resolved and I didn't feel there was much point to LLewyn. I know it that was intentional but it did leave me feeling a bit sold short especially as I'm such a Cohen Brothers fan. The Emperors New Clothes, I'm afraid to say and I'm sure the Dude does not abide.
Agreed. Looked awesome, sounded awesome and the acting was great; but I still couldn't feel connected to the film, it was like an awesome looking pie which had a good crust but no real filling! This film frustrates me, I really want to like it but it just doesn't produce that depth that I need.
It's simply not one of those movies. I feel like it's far more of a slice of life movie, rather than one that follows a traditional plot narrative. I think It's 'filling' is it's purely melancholic aesthetic.
Hiya I’m very late . Sorry I had a completely different take . I think through his constant struggles he kept his dignity . He has all this talent and he refuses to sellout and change and that’s Dave Van Ronk , I don’t think the cat is as important. I think it’s probably symbolic of lost opportunities . The true artist suffers for his craft and that’s the chorus there , Beautifully made film and Oscar Issac give an unbelievably good performance, it was great to see Dylan there . Dave Van Ronk was Dylan’s mentor for his early years in New York . It is very nuanced and has a rich tapestry. Maybe it’s a movie for folk buffs . I found it absolutely charming.
Kermode likes the film, but doesn't "love it" like many critics do. When he says he 'admires' it, he finds the Coens' craft to be extraordinary. The sharp dialogue, vivid cinematography, great acting, live music etc. makes him appreciate the Coen's dedication to filmmaking. It sounds like the 'slice of life' narrative. structure and lack of escalation this movie had kept Kermode from being gripped or moved as much as other people were. I personally love the film, but I accept gripes and see why it doesn't sit with everyone.
bronsoninnit I wouldn't say that. I enjoyed the way Paperbag explained this. I mean, brendan might have been winding him up but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt because I myself was entertained by Paperbagman's summary, which was a lot less one-sided than a few of the other comments on this thread, plus he explained himself more adroitly.
ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-lNsasM0Fq24.html Here's his follow up. I think I very much agree that it gets better with multiple viewings.
Ha! How very odd!. Must see this film because THE GHOST OF NEIL DIAMOND (2008) also features a fading folk legend, and he is also, as this critic describes, ‘homeless’, ‘rejected’ by his partner and everyone else; and he has ‘missed the boat’, and he doesn’t ‘deserve much of our sympathy’, and he endures so many disappointments . . . but none quite like this.
I think his reviews are only amusing if you haven't watched the movie he is talking about. If he is reviewing a film you've already seen it becomes quite clear that he is an utterly inattentive viewer and incapable of sober thought.
I totally agree with Mark on this one. "Inside Llewyn Davis" didn't reach me at all. The whole movie felt meandering and flaccid. I think you would just have to be interested in Bob Dylan and the early folk scene to feel that this movie was dealing with orbit shifting, amazing things, and was therefore a great movie. I just don't, so I didn't.
I agree. I suspect some people love it because they think they are supposed to. Smart writing and good music but the characters are annoying and there is no payoff.
Being far too nice here. The Coen Brothers are great - usually, but this is just boring, like K said meandering, wobbling without any point. In the interview with Simon they said they were at first against doing this film and thought it was a little boring, well that's exactly what they got. The soundtrack is entertaining and Isaacs does the best he can but still ends up completely unlikable in my opinion. Mulligan's character is even more malicious but nothing could have saved this. The whole cat narrative and faux intellectual elliptic storyline is exactly that fake and pointless.
Gagelocked he wrote a well reasoned opinion on the film and this is your response? this is a mediocre film. one where only viewers who lived in the period of this music will enjoy. that is a clear sign that the film fails in portraying the themes that it tackles. it is also, un-cinematic, not only for a coen brothers film, but simply un-cinematic in absolute terms despite the great photo treatment by the cinematographer. one cannot say the same about the coen bro's other films that were successful. those films were cinematic for the most part (fargo, o'brother, serious man, etc... you can watch them with the sound turned off) and were able to engage an audience on an emotional level. it's ironic that you should bring up michael bay, because one of the few things that he does well is what this film fails at. being cinematic. youtube "what is bayhem" for an education.
+relinquis You don't have to live during the time to appreciate it. You have to be in the mood and have patience and observe though. Now, Oh Brother, on the other hand, I just can't get into....tried 3 times to watch it and just doesn't pull me in. Perhaps the same here for some.
Mark. if you related more to that awful man, that movie would have moved you. You'd have to say that a movie whose success depended on the viewer identifying with the awful protagonist is not for everybody. Maybe it's just for bad people.
no no no, this is a horrible review, from a very subjective perspective, with the critic giving the main character the proverbial "pass" as he is being pointed out to be a horrible person. The Coen Bros have done masterpieces before, but they have also done rubbish (Ladykillers, anyone?) and this is one of their most exhausting and checkbox films of them all... meaning that they were going through a formula, checking off what they thought they had accomplished, such as: * main actor being a jerk, which you will then love (hey it worked for Miller's Crossing, lets do it again!!!) * What are people into now? CATS!!! giving the cat a very spiritual/meta element that truly goes nowhere (is this the same cat/same person?) * A touchy sensitive moment that then we will play for laughs ( the moment when the main character gets an audition only to be shutdown.... a very serious moment that then we will exploit for laughs, like Donny's ashes !!!) * a John Goodman rant!!! ( actually the only good part of the film) Anyhoo, you get the point, the Coen Bros at their laziest, like when they did Hudsucker Proxy, Ladykillers, Hail Caesar. etc) choosing style over substance. Fans of Barton Fink, Fargo, Miller's Crossing, Big Lebowski look away
