192. Inside Llewyn Davis

Song - Walk of Life (Dire Straits)

Movie: Inside Llewyn Davis (Joel & Ethan Coen, 2013)

There is an idea that you can only truly appreciate Godard's Breathless (a film I haven't seen since watching it in Film History class, and not really caring for it) if you have a seen lot of films from the 1940's and 50's. Only then will you realise how radically different it was from what was usually offered to audiences and how much of a shock to the system it was. Inside Llewyn Davis serves as a 40's film for Bob Dylan. Once he appears at the end of the film, you may not become a fan of him, but you get it. The Coens let their Dylan perform the exact same song Llewyn Davis (Oscar Isaac) played before giving way, making both his parting words "If it was never new, and it never gets old, then it's a folk song", and his music transparently obsolete. 

The only thing I don't like about Inside Llewyn Davis is that it is the least good looking film the Coens have ever made. But its aggresively dull brown-greenish cinematography does fit the presentation of the folk scene of Greenwich Village as something of an unremarkable grey sludge of good, but somewhat uninspired music. It's hard to deny the talent of Llewyn and the other performers, but none of these people particularly distinguish themselves or stand out. In all his performances Isaac emphasises how much effort it takes Llewyn to connect to the audience with the song. He is grimacing, hitting the guitar with purpose, outwardly expressing how much this all means to him, but it just never truly clicks. And while the film focuses mostly on his mishaps, most of the other characters we meet have similar (mis)fortunes. Some, like the bumbling soldier Troy, get an opportunity at something bigger, but that's more attributable to luck than to some discernable exceptional talent. 

I remember from when the film came out, some of the real-life characters from the Greenwich Village scene objected to its depiction, claiming that it was much more artistically accomplished and vital than the Coens made it out to be. Fair enough, but the artistic liberties the Coens have taken make for a much more interesting, moving film. It's easy to make audencies sympathise with great talents who don't make it for tragic reasons, or to inspire people with stories of underdogs who make it despite great odds. But Llewyn Davis not becoming succesfull is not a great injustice and makes a lot of sense. He lacks the skills, the talent and the character to make it, but that doesn't mean that we shouldn't care for him as a human being, or that he should be stuck in a never-ending loop of misery.

It's a depiction that goes directly against America's obsession with 'winners' and the ensuing idea that only the very best are deserving of happiness. and is fully in line with the Coens overarching worldview. They have never been much into mavericks and genuises, seeing the world as incomprehensible and uncontrollable. Your grand plans can always be derailed by unknown forces you haven't taken into account and you can't stop what's coming. That's a much less individualist perspective than you will usually find in American stories, and much less cynical than it is often made out to be. It's also what allows them to inject wonderful absurd humor even in their most dramatic films. Few others would even try to include something like John Goodman's Roland Turner or Please Mr. Kennedy in a film like this, let alone make it work.