Directed by: Joel and Ethan Coen
Starring: Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, John Goodman
Rated R, 104 minutes
Llewyn Davis can’t catch a break. “Inside Llewyn Davis,” the story of a folk singer whose career can’t get off the ground, has in some ways mimicked the sad failures of its titular character. A movie that started off with a lot of potential – the last time the Coen Brothers did a semi-musical movie, they gave us the wonderful “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” – has fallen out of favor among viewers and critics who just couldn’t connect with Llewyn or the ‘60s vibes. And it makes sense – this isn’t a movie that you want to connect with.
Following a week in Llewyn’s (Oscar Isaac, “Drive”) life, the film does little more than spiral downward as the penniless, friendless bum tries to get himself any kind of work, constantly failing to show gratitude where it’s due. He sleeps on the couches of acquaintances, most notably the irritated Jean (Carey Mulligan, also from “Drive”). He accidentally gets stuck with a host’s cat and is forced to take care of it. He hitchhikes to Chicago and back with a crippled jazz musician (John Goodman, “O Brother”) who alternates between sleeping soundly and sputtering nonsense.
And here and there, he gets to play music, but the soul is gone from the folk songs he sings; he once had a singing partner, but those days are gone and will never return. Rebuffed by industry executives and forced to watch his peers outperform him, Llewyn begins to question the career he’s spent literally everything on. Unfortunately, there isn’t much else he could do instead.
The movie plays out as a picaresque series of endeavors, episodes Llewyn instigates that lead him in circles. Where it is humorous, the film is only darkly and outlandishly so, in a way the Coens have perfected over the years. But the humor is sparse here. The bulk of the movie is, if anything, depressing, a series of abandonments both self-imposed and out of Llewyn’s control. Late in the game there are a few moments of relief, or even forward-looking optimism, but they’re quickly cut short in favor of a gloomier history-repeats-itself reality.
All of which has served, it seems, to alienate viewers from the character on screen. The temperamental Llewyn, kept at an arm’s length by the very capable Oscar Isaac, doesn’t inspire your confidence or your disdain; he merely exists. The 104 minutes we spend with him pass very slowly, and interjections from Carey Mulligan and John Goodman, as well as a supporting cast that includes Justin Timberlake, Robin Bartlett, Adam Driver, Jeanine Serralles, Stark Sands, and Jerry Grayson, prove far more energetic and compelling. The folk songs in the film, which are always heard in their entirety, are welcome breaks in the slow-moving action, but as Llewyn sinks lower, the songs become slower, his delivery more morose.
As such, it’s difficult to get through the movie, but the Coens make an incisive point through the hapless Llewyn. What more appropriate way to describe the difficulty of making it as a starving artist than with a protagonist who’s hard to like? His struggle is that much more real because we’re more against him than we are for him. Llewyn Davis is a self-defeating underdog, the little guy who’s light years away from taking on the big bad industry execs holding him back from a successful life. The Coens explicitly and cruelly avoid any kind of lucky break that rewards us for sticking with him.
And now, as befits the slow-burning failure of Llewyn’s career, “Inside Llewyn Davis” has been largely disregarded by the Oscars, picking up two nominations in little-followed technical categories. In a way, it’s validating; the Coens made a movie about ignoring the little guy, a movie that was then ignored by prestigious awards shows. In the end, I have to imagine the Coens themselves are ignoring their own sorry hero, too. Life is rough, they say, but don’t let the hard road ahead get you down. Don’t be like Llewyn.
Originally published in The Harvard Press on 1/24/14.