{"id":15571,"date":"2013-10-18T22:59:59","date_gmt":"2013-10-18T21:59:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/?p=15571"},"modified":"2014-08-27T15:45:08","modified_gmt":"2014-08-27T14:45:08","slug":"lff-2013-inside-llewyn-davis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/2013\/10\/18\/lff-2013-inside-llewyn-davis\/","title":{"rendered":"LFF 2013: Inside Llewyn Davis"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Oscar-Isaac-in-Inside-Llewyn-Davis.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-15572\" src=\"http:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Oscar-Isaac-in-Inside-Llewyn-Davis.jpg\" alt=\"Oscar Isaac in Inside Llewyn Davis\" width=\"560\" height=\"280\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Coen_brothers\">The Coen Brothers<\/a> are in a more reflective mood for this beautifully crafted drama, set amongst <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Bob_dylan#Relocation_to_New_York_and_record_deal\">the New York folk scene of the early 1960s<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Opening with folk singer Llewyn Davis (Oscar Isaac) performing in a <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Greenwich_Village\">Greenwich Village<\/a> nightclub in January 1961, we soon discover he is a man struggling against the odds, in both his personal and working life.<\/p>\n<p>His record label are useless in paying his meagre royalties, a hectoring ex-girlfriend (Carey Mulligan) tells him she is pregnant (and she&#8217;s unsure who the father is), he frequently has to couch surf and also manages to lose a friend&#8217;s cat.<\/p>\n<p>Despite all of these mishaps he plugs away in search of a bigger break, travelling to Chicago and back again in the winter, trying to convince people to take a chance on his music or a least help him out financially.<\/p>\n<p>Wilfully subverting the traditions of the rags to riches music biopic, it focuses on a man whose existence appears to be an ever decreasing circle of fame and money.<\/p>\n<p>Imagine if <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Bob_dylan\">Bob Dylan<\/a> hadn&#8217;t quite made it and you&#8217;ll soon get the idea.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/eXMuR-Nsylg\" width=\"560\" height=\"420\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>If this seems like a gloomy tale, don&#8217;t forget that the Coens are past masters at mixing light and dark and this is along the lines of A Serious Man (2009) and Barton Fink (1991).<\/p>\n<p>Like those movies, it features many funny scenes populated with memorable characters: two friendly academics (Ethan Phillips and Robin Barrett); a sister (Jeanine Serralles); singer and ex-partner Jean (Mulligan) who is now seeing a rival Jim (Justin Timberlake).<\/p>\n<p>One of the most striking episodes &#8211; which may be related to the film&#8217;s title &#8211; is a road trip to Chicago where Davis hitches a lift with a silent driver (Garrett Hedlund) and a rotund jazz impresario (John Goodman), on the way to see a promoter (F. Murray Abraham).<\/p>\n<p>This sequence, and the film as a whole, bears all the hallmarks of their very best work: immaculately shot by DP Bruno Delbonnel, it also features some stunning production design by Jess Gonchor, who recreates the era in meticulous detail.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/MY8dD14E8rs\" width=\"560\" height=\"420\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>At the centre of all this is an excellent performance by Oscar Isaac, who manages to capture the weary melancholy and outsider attitude of a struggling &#8211; and not particularly likeable &#8211; artist.<\/p>\n<p>As for The Coens, this seems to be another of their more personal films where a Job-like protagonist is constantly struggling within a comically hostile universe.<\/p>\n<p>But the aforementioned connection with Bob Dylan is an interesting one: like the legendary folk singer, they moved from Minnesota to New York and a scene near the end is perhaps more than just a tip of the hat to him.<\/p>\n<p>As for the soundtrack, the Coens team up once again with executive music producer T\u202fBone Burnett, who memorably collaborated on the O Brother Where Art Thou? (2000) soundtrack, and the result is arguably as good.<\/p>\n<p>One of the year&#8217;s most impressive films, it is a strong addition to the Coen&#8217;s canon and a memorable depiction of a struggling artist.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Inside Llewyn Davis<\/strong> screened at the London Film Festival on Tues 15th, Thurs 17th and Sat 19th October<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>(It opens in the UK on Friday 24th January 2014)<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&gt; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.insidellewyndavis.com\/uk\/splash\">Official site<\/a><br \/>\n&gt; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nonesuch.com\/albums\/inside-llewyn-davis\">Listen to the soundtrack<\/a><br \/>\n&gt; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.metacritic.com\/movie\/inside-llewyn-davis\">Reviews of Inside Llewyn Davis at Metacritic<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Coen Brothers are in a more reflective mood for this beautifully crafted drama, set amongst the New York folk scene of the early 1960s.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,20,38],"tags":[2636,1184],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15571"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15571"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15571\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15792,"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15571\/revisions\/15792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}