In an interview with Sight
and Sound magazine, Ethan Coen described the titular protagonist of their
latest film Inside Llewyn Davis as
being on ‘a hamster wheel’, ever moving but always ending up in the same place.
A hamster in a cage is also an apt metaphor for the way Ethan and his brother
Joel – known of course as the collective filmmaking force the Coen Brothers –
treat characters in their films. They’re like the cruel schoolchild who
gleefully teases and torches his pet, subjecting it to ever increasing pains
before leaving exhausted and bemused.
Llewyn’s (Oscar Isaac) travails involve the many setbacks
that greet him in his futile attempts to become a recognised folk musician. Having
quit his job in the merchant navy, Llewyn is without a home in New York’s
Greenwhich village, alternately sleeping on the couches of the few friends he
has and those willing to put up with him. The little money he makes is earned
performing songs from his unsuccessful album ‘Inside Lleywn Davis’ at the
Gaslight Cafe, and his woes mount up over the week that the film takes place
in.
The brothers have conceived the pre-Bob Dylan world of the
Greenwhich village folk scene in an understated, melancholic mood, with colour
having been drained from the frame and black, white and greys populating the
image. Such simplicity is reflected in the songs themselves, composed as they
are from the bare elements of a singer and his guitar.
These performances - sometimes on stage, sometimes to pass
the time, sometimes unwillingly – are what structures the film, and have been
weaved into the plot in a manner akin to the genre of the musical. And, like
most musicals, the plot itself is uneventful, with the most sustained tension
evoked in Llewyn’s attempts to bring home safely the cat of one the friend’s he
sleeps round. We later discover that this cat is called ‘Ulysees’, an allusion
which - along with several other references to journeying – invites us to
consider the odyssey Llewyn is himself enduring. That Llewyn must decide to
what extent to continue to look after the cat is also given extra weight upon
the discovery of a particular revelation learned.
As the title suggests, we’re with Llewyn in pretty much
every frame of the film, and Oscar Isaac and the Coens do a good job of making
us route for him despite the less appealing attributes he sometimes exhibits.
He is, for all his flaws, a loveable screw-up; or as his ‘friend’ Jean (played
by the typically excellent Carey Mulligan) dubs him, ‘King Midas’ idiot brother’,
turning everything he touches into shit. Isaac’s singing is especially
affective, impressive enough to make us believe in Llewyn’s talent, and
passionate enough to give voice to the character’s frustrated interior that is
otherwise only inconspicuously evoked. And, perhaps most importantly of all, beautiful
to listen to.
All the traits we’ve come to expect from a Coen Brothers
film are present: grotesque characters, black humour, excellent script, artful
direction, and John Goodman playing another variation of John Goodman (this
time a repulsive, self-satisfied jazz musician). Goodman’s performance is
somewhat jarring and the film takes a turn for the strange at this point, but
does add another layer to a film that is difficult to pin down.
Though aside from the various oblique thematic hints, more
than anything else Inside Llewyn Davis
is about the difficulty of making it as an artist. In fact, the very notion of ‘making
it’ is itself questioned; is an artist one who makes beautiful music from the
depths of their sole, or one who is able to make a living from it? Whichever
way you look at it, the Coen brothers themselves – however cruelly they may
treat their artist-protagonists - have over the years established themselves as
greatly accomplished artists, and their latest effort is yet another excellent addition
to their ever growing canon.
SP
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