Inside Llewyn Davis - Art for Art’s Sake
The Coen Brothers are the kind of directors that I am endlessly fascinated by, they have this style that is so unnoticeable and they have this insanely impressive talent of being able to adapt to any genre, idea or narrative they want to tackle. 'Inside Llewyn Davies' is not only my favourite film of theirs but simply one of the most impressively confident films ever made. There is this iconic story of the making of this film where the Coen brothers decided to put the iconic cat in at the last minute due to worries that the film lacks a plot, this made me appreciate 'Inside Llewyn Davis' more because it is a dedication to simplicity and a study in a character through a series of vignettes with very little connecting them. It isn't a film that really has its audience in mind, it doesn't wear its intentions on its sleeve and I really love how the film is meant to be read and enjoyed through whatever lens you require. In some ways the film functions as a wacky comedy showing the misfit adventures of Llewyn, whilst it also might function as a depressing look into the ideas that compel people to make authentic art. Not many films allow so much personal interaction as this beautiful film and I consider it to be just about one of the most valuable cinematic experiences out there. I think it is a modern classic and one that I strongly recommend to anyone. Spoilers Ahead.
Live music is something that I miss a lot during this global quarantine, there is this undeniable magical feeling to see music created in front of you and there's nothing I miss more than being swept away by an artist in a venue full of people who share a very similar love. I mention this due to how 'Inside Llewyn Davis' relies on breaking down our personal perception of how authentic and special music is, we open with this highly intimate performance as Llewyn sings beautifully and is clearly talented beyond compare. The Cen Brother's manage to perfectly recreates the feeling of watching live music due to how truly special this performance feels, the camera fixates on Davis' face and it is such a beautiful opening contrasted almost immediately by a scene where this singer is beaten up for heckling another band. The opening is the film's whole thematic latch, do we perceive Llewyn differently when he is on stage as appose to when he blends into the crowd and if that is true why does an artist seem so different when they create their art? It is a study on how we perceive Llewyn and for every mistake he makes, does that change how we perceive his music, do we separate the art from the artist? Or do we attribute what we know about the artist to the art? I'm two paragraphs into this review and immediately getting swept up in meaning because of what this film does to me, it is a unique brand of remaining an entertaining watch that I can't help but toss around ideas about what it means. It manages to be on that verge of surrealism, the events are incredibly grounded but drenched in symbolism to the point where this world does not feel real, occasionally we get moments that feel just that bit too far from norm giving the overall film this floaty unreal feeling to it.
Oscar Isaac brings everything together in this film, he makes what should be an incredibly unlikeable character feel breathtakingly honest and someone you can't help but sympathise with. Even when he reaches his worst you somehow understand why he is there, Isaac has to convey this hardly touched on backstory of how he lost his music partner and has not recovered. The film touches on this very infrequently but it becomes an essential part of his character, we essentially only begin to understand him the more we know about him. Isaac does an incredible job through how he separates the character from when he is performing and from his personal moments that are much more introspective. The supporting cast is brilliant, they don’t get as much development but they do fill out this world and play an important part to Llewyn’s development as a character. Carey Mulligan as Jean portrays brilliantly how influential some of Llewyn’s actions have been on other people, she plays damaged incredibly well and the way her character transforms her pain into creating commercial art is beautiful especially when you consider her pain comes from Llewyn. Justin Timberlake, Adam Driver and John Goodman are the most memorable side characters, all raising a different argument into the process behind performing, one is essentially a complete sell-out but seems more together than anyone, another serves his country whilst performing to keep himself balanced and the other manipulates other performers for his own gain which eventually kills him. The focus is always on Llewyn and every character he meets is a foil for his own character, they add and develop him whilst peeling back layers to the film’s complex thematic stance.
Throughout the film we see this fascinating struggle behind Llewyn as a character and it manages to make so much out of such a well known trope, we have seen stories about struggling artists so much but we have never seen something as endearingly personal as this story. With a film like this, music is so ridiculously intertwined into everything, ‘Inside Llewyn Davis’ relies on the use of music in order to create any kind of experience. There is an honest relationship with the audience through the film’s soundtrack, it wears its influences on its wrist and plays into the audience’s preconceptions. We hear the emotional and personal folk singing of ‘Blood on the Tracks’ era Dylan with Llewyn’s own songs, then a Simon and Garfunkel esque folk duet of Llewyn’s past and several commercial impersonal ridiculous folk songs that Llewyn is forced to be a part of. His character is at a musical crossroads as he feels inbetween success, the past is represented by his duets that are beautifully relatable and feel somewhat perfectly in between having artistic integrity and commercial success. The music he is playing now is compromisingly personal, he clearly has this passion for what he plays but when asked to play to entertain he feels creatively robbed, you can tell he consistently battles with the integrity of playing from the heart and the fear of losing that integrity. The scene when he plays to F. Murray Abraham’s character is beautifully shot, sticking on him as the audience feel this overwhelming sense of pathos and admiration whilst he is met with a dismissive response. Llewyn agrees to partaking in a commercial ridiculous song ‘Please Mr Kennedy’, which is also the funniest scene in the film, but he feels out of sync and obviously doesn't understand why he is doing this. It is this endless struggle that is heartbreakingly realised, he is stuck between turning his pain into art for no reward or ignoring the pain in order to gain reward.
The film intentionally loops round in its chronology, ths opening is actually the ending but it almost feels like a pattern in Llewyn’s life ending this story of creative struggle with the depressing realisation that he is destined to consistently reach rock bottom every week with no success. It is a tough depressing thought process but the Coen’s intentionally play with the audience, the ending is vague and unclear but incredibly clear in its thematic purpose, we understand that Llewyn is trapped in this way of life and can’t make it out. Is it because he isn’t selling out? Is it because he alienates the people around him and doesn't own up to his wrongdoings? Or is it simply because some people are destined to be unfortunate, he never gets the emotional payoff from his art, his pain never helped him but as an audience we understand Llewyn and we become the people who sympathise and listen to Llewyn’s art. As Llewyn leaves the bar to be attacked, there is a subtle revelation that the man singing at the open mic is meant to be Bob Dylan, implying that perhaps Llewyn was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, it is an ode to how Dylan created his art through his pain and made a lifetime of it that Llewyn was never able to do. It offers a small glimmer of hope, that sometimes the catharsis you need is always one step away but sometimes there may be a way to reach that catharsis. My favourite thing about the Coen Brothers is that they are very playful as writers, there is no denying ‘Inside Llewyn Davis’ is a bleak film with glimmers of comedy, but thematically they remain interesting with playing with what you are meant to get out of it. It works best in this film as the more I think about it the more I get out of it, the message may be bleak and at times depressing but it feels so well realised that it doesn't come off as cynical but honest. It’s so rewarding to watch a film and be dealt a tough card that allows me as an audience member to gain something important out of it. I don’t finish ‘Inside Llewyn Davis’ feeling sad, I finish it feeling simply emotional and that is an important difference.
Thanks for reading!