Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)

People are voting emotionally.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Blistering performances.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

Garrett HedlundYes, I'd have to say that watching this film was worth seeing Garrett Hedlund. I have liked his voice since hearing him sing in the film 'Country Strong.' Other than that, this was a dreary, sad, grim depiction of NYC life - and fairly accurate if you do have to be in that city when the sun is not shining and you don't happen to live in one of the fancier boxes they call apartments or even houses. The main character is unlikeable - so unlikeable that I did not want to learn the pronunciation of his name. I did not care. Lucky for the audience, the scriptwriters stress the pronunciation of his name half-way through the movie so that you have to remember it. Is it important to like the main character? No. But it helps to have some shred or spark of charm to catch your attention. I'm a bit familiar with folk music and live coffee-house folk music. I'm more than a bit familiar with the Hootenanny generation (that was my generation). I even have a relative who sings in coffee houses and writes songs. It is that dreary, yes - scrambling to play for a pittance. Only the very devoted and dedicated stay with it hoping to someday have a life that allows them to pay rent money from this kind of work. Having Bob Dylan sing in the coffee house at the end was the perfect wrap-up to this film for me. His voice is very cat like, twangy, even yowl-y as a cat might yowl. He is a song writer but a crappy singer. Still, a very successful one.Which should inspire all Llewyn-type characters: if Dylan can sing and twang his vocal chords as well as guitar chords with fabulous success, so can you!

I instantly fell in love with this film though it is an acquired taste. It doesn't have much of a plot and is extremely character based and that works for me because I love character films but it may not work for other people. The script is fantastic and the Cohen brothers are becoming my favourite filmmakers. Inside Llywen Davis is a film about a folk singer in Grennich Village trying to get his music career of the ground after the death of his partner. The music is great and I wouldn't consider myseld a fan of folk music but I love the soundtrack. The acting is great and Oscar Issac is great at performing very cynical characters. It's one of the best films of 2013 and I highly suggest you watch even if your more of a fan of plot based movies

Inside Llewyn DavisEthan and Joel seems a bit distracted somewhere in the middle through a brief period of time but then comes back with more than anticipated and leaves you mesmerized in the end.

** SPOILERS **Inside Llewyn Davis personally swept me away the first time I saw it and my head was swimming with the events throughout the story and the interpretations of them as I understood it. Please keep in mind as you read this that I'm speaking of art and interpretations are all they could possibly be, not anything concrete. But I have gathered that some people don't take much from the movie while I found at least the overall theme of an endless cycle to be pretty much blatant. Anywho this review is mostly for those viewers. So the most salient theme like I said is that of the endless cycle we follow Llewyn through. The relentless, crushing cycle of Llewyns life and the painful monotony of it all is only magnified by the casual way the viewer glimpses into it, as if it's inconsequential when the story starts or ends. I felt that in the last leg of the movie it was very obvious that this was simply another week in the life of Llewyn Davis. The constant familiar occurrences of a person making the same decisions in the same place, something not exclusive to a struggling musician but relevant all the same. It can be argued that none of these events are actually very significant, but simply tell Llewyns revolving story. The end is a kind of repeat of the beginning, but I feel convinced that some things may have not been there before when Llewyn experienced it. First I found that the poster Llewyn notices before his last gig seems very important. It's a movie poster that says "The Fantastic Journey" or something of the sort, a stimulus that to me suggests that Llewyns repetitive misadventures are not the end-all, but instead a means to an end. In other words the idea as I'm explaining it is that perhaps his story was not meaningless and it was a journey taking him to whatever's next. He plays his last gig and is socked by the same or similar goon as he was in the beginning, while Bob Dylan performs at the Gaslight, probably for the first time. If the goon represented the folk scene, or Llewyns environment in general (both of which were constantly "kicking him down" or whatever), then Llewyn literally says goodbye to that life at the end as the goon is driven away. This is placed perfectly with Bob Dylans performance because the monumental success of Dylans career was sure to be the final nail in Llewyns coffin. I also like to think that maybe there were signs earlier in the movie that Llewyn was staging his gradual exit. For instance, he got his shipping papers in order but there was a setback. So of course here he is playing The Gaslight again, and the cycle continues. Only now he is one big step closer to moving on and possibly, finally, being released from the cycle. So it can even be interpreted that any other week in this story is similar, but maybe peppered with these small steps. Another example of this is how he didn't let the cat out of the apartment the second time he left. Another small step. (The cat is a whole different review worth of speculation btw). Exceptional film. Perfectly executed I thought, and with a real artistic integrity. I think some people are bored by the music scenes, and I'm a musician so I really can't comment on that too objectively, but at the risk of sounding smug I can't help but say that if you didn't have the patience for the music scenes in this movie, or Treme, or things of the sort, then you really might not love music as much as you probably say you do.