Disc Reviews

Inside Llewyn Davis Review

• 30th May 2014

Tracking right back to the early 60’s – we hit the New York Greenwich Village Folk scene with our lead character of the title (Oscar Isaac) – A typically morose and down on his luck Coen Brother’s character. Within the first five minutes of the film we have seen him in his element, but then suddenly accosted and beaten for being the man he is; much like Jeff Lebowski was in his element at the start of that film and was then suddenly put upon for being, Jeffrey Lebowski.

Only Inside Llewyn Davis isn’t the weird comedy The Big Lebowski was. Far from it. Despite having some strong humour and weirdness (there is plenty of weirdness in the second half of this film), ILD is far more a distant cousin of perhaps earlier and stranger work from the Coen’s like Barton Fink. So to lovers of the Fink we say “go to town!”

There are stranger characters than entering and leaving the picture; there are strange circular events that come round and round the main character who seems on a journey, but a journey that goes from A to B without ever letting them get tom their destination at C. Even when an alternative destination in their path opens up there are then road-blocked from getting to that location as well. Such is the frustrating narrative of the Coen’s work from time to time, and ILD is one of the most frustrating to date.

With that said – the film looks beautiful (even with Roger Deakins away), the dialogue is as you’d expect, the performances are tuned well to the material, and the music stands out once again – whether you are a fan of the genre or not.

And yet two thirds of the way through there is a nagging feeling of the film not actually going anywhere, boredom is imminently crashing in, tedium is whistling in your ear, and a slight hatred for most of the characters on screen starts to develop. It’s difficult to say if this section of the film in particular acts as a lull, or if you have simply just had enough of what is on screen so far.

The humour for example might fail right away with audiences that can predict that that darn cat is going to be a persistent presence; even when it is escaping all the time. Knowing that this cat is going to keep coming back pretty much makes the film a failure in its attempt to surprise the audience or make them laugh if they are way ahead of the film already. It becomes a burden for the cinemagoer that is too overfamiliar with the style of the film makers. Quite how the cat and its identity relates to the main character fails if you already don’t care for the gag in the first place. The Coen’s know how to write warped connections and give obscure meaning to how everything relates – but if you are not on board from the get go then the film will just become a painful chore for you to bother with, with little to no amusement along the way when there are long stretches on monotony.

It is safe to say that despite it looking great, being well acted, having music that works well, and that common weird Coen Brothers sensibility about it that the film is far from their best and fails in the end to engage, despite how clever it is trying to be with its audience.

With an ending that might elicit groans, or just frowns, this is one Coen brothers movie that might have critics giving it the highest of praise, but is easily the most pretentious the Brothers have made in a while. And that may be deliberate, but it is no less painful.

Steven Hurst