Inside Llewyn Davis

[Stumpy Pepys]

So this film has been alluded to on other threads, but we haven't discussed it properly.

I'm still pretty undecided about the film. Having said that, despite its faults, I'd still recommend seeing it, as I think there's enough good things about it that make it worth watching.

So what's to like? The evocation of early 60s Greenwich village is very convincing. The songs are terrific as you'd expect. Oscar Isaac is really good in the lead and there's a very good supporting cast.

Yet there still feels like there's something missing. It's maybe that Llewyn Davis is a pretty unlikeable character and the whole film is essentially about underachievement, failure and lack of success.

However, many reviewers love this film and, as I said, it's still worth seeing even if, like me, you come out of it slightly disappointed.

[Come along, Min]

Inside Llewyn Davis

I didn't think the music was that good. The only track that has stuck with me was that bubblegummy JFK track with Justin Timberlake.

On the whole I reckon I share your feelings towards the film.

Interesting, mysterious, some nice scenes with great dialogue, but on the whole I left feeling quite unfulfilled. I think it would stand up to a second viewing, and maybe that's what it needs.

Not happening any time soon though because there's so much other stuff to catch up with.

[Stumpy Pepys]

Inside Llewyn Davis

I forgot to mention the terrific knitwear.

[Borracho]

Inside Llewyn Davis

Ah yes, the Clancy Brothers.

I liked it except for two things: a really shite ending (not unusually for the Coens) and the long, dull sub-plot with John Goodman in the car. It has a certain down-at-heel charm but it's not going to be remembered as one of their best ones.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

Inside Llewyn Davis

Which one of the clancy brothers was the whale? There wasn't a person in ireland that fat back then.

[Bizarre Löw Triangle]

Inside Llewyn Davis

Well, I liked it.

[Felicity, I guess so]

Inside Llewyn Davis

SAW 85-92 mentions two of the things I thought were BEST about it!

The Goodman cameo is excellent, and the meandering sub-plot is part of the semi-tragedy of the central character, in that he heads to Chicago with Goodnman and his sidekick expecting his career to take off there.

The end is low key, allusive, open- all fine by me. I feared they were gonna really lay the "Dylan emerged from here" stuff on too thick.

[G-Man]

Inside Llewyn Davis

Finally saw it, and thought it was frustrating. Llewyn Davies is a thoroughly unlikable character, so the final scene is sort of satisfying.

The songs he sang were quite good, in a contemporary way, but that was not the sound of folk in 1961. The Kennedy song was also very undisciplined for folk, especially the ad libs by him from Girls. Odetta and Cisco Houston wouldn't have been their influences, and not even Pete Seeger.

The Goodman interlude was quirky, but added nothing to the story nothing. It was there to give the Coens opportunity to let Goodman do his thing. And sometimes there's too much of a good thing.

[Stumpy Pepys]

Inside Llewyn Davis

I really think I need to see this again.

I think there's an expectation that primary characters need to go on some sort of journey. Llewyn Davies has learnt nothing by the end of this film and maybe I should re-watch the movie with this in mind.