Folk singer Llewyn Davis (Oscar Isaac) is a struggling folk musician in 1961 Greenwich Viillage. The movie covers a week in his life as he drifts from one place to another. (Photo courtesy CBS Films)
Inside Llewyn Davis is about a man who is more of a wanderer than a seeker.
On the surface it’s a recreation of the pre-Bob Dylan folk music scene of 1961 Greenwich Village. But it’s really about a man who in Dylan’s own words is “like a rolling stone” with “no direction home.”
The Coen Brothers (No Country For Old Men, Fargo, O Brother Where Art Thou?) have put together an entertaining, compelling, well-photographed story that largely avoids the black humor so often associated with their films.
They move away from their trademark dark quirkiness to something more believable and realistic. It’s a good shift for them. The Coen Brothers are growing beyond the absurd and the surreal.
This movie is a character study, not one of their wacky or dark crime capers. Although the folk music scene is the setting for the movie, the center of the story isn’t the music: it’s the central character Llewyn Davis (Oscar Isaac).
He’s a lost and wandering soul with little ability to positively connect with other people. The Coen Brothers explore this theme of an anti-hero wanderer. The early 1960s folk music world is just a background to unfold this theme.
Struggling to be heard and recognized
Llewelyn is an aspiring folk singer who has just released his first solo album. The partner he recorded with committed suicide. So now Davis is trying to make it on his own.
But he doesn’t have the charm or the attractiveness to be — as what once character calls — “a leading man” in a folk group. His songs don’t have commercial potential. The songs are heartfelt but sad.
Llewyn joins a session on a novelty folk song with Jim (Justin Timberlake) and Al Cody (Adam Driver). It gets him $200 — but no royalties.(Photo courtesy CBS Films)
Not much is going his way. He has no money to rent an apartment. So he sleeps on other people’s sofas or in their spare rooms. He doesn’t even have the money to buy a winter coat. His first solo record isn’t selling.
So he’s bitter. He sometimes lashes out at even those who try to help him. His patience is stretched thin. He’s tired of trying to make enough money from his music. It’s hard on his own. He can’t catch the break he really wants.
And the more conventional life outside of the music business doesn’t appeal to him. He has no interest in being married or having a committed relationship. He turns down several opportunities to connect or settle down into a of life committed to somebody or something.
Drifting more than seeking
He’s not a spiritual seeker. He’s just looking for a way to survive on his own terms — and leans toward a loner existence. This is not the modern-day variation on a pilgrimage like the movie Nebraska. Llweyn is an existentialist drifter wandering through a world that seems to hold no meaning. And appears to working against him by not acknowledging the strength of his music.
Like a lone cowboy in a Western, he drifts on his own impulses and occasionally comes into other people’s lives — like a cowboy drifting into town from the desert. But unlike Westerns, he doesn’t have a moral code to hang onto as a belief system. Llweyn is brooding, displeased and worn down. Life is basically survival.
The only things he seems to enjoy are singing one of his songs — when he’s in the mood. And caring for a cat that he temporarily adopts. Like the cat in the movie Breakfast at Tiffany’s (released in the same year that this movie is set), he feels protective and concerned toward this creature that seems to represent his vagabond self. Especially when we find out the name of the cat (it would be giving away too much to reveal it here).
The Loneliness of Solitary Journeys
Wandering isn’t new in stories. The Bible had wanderers.
Singer Jean (Carey Mulligan) is caught in a tense situation between two folk singers. She is mostly angry about her life, but has somewhat of a soft spot under her furor. (Photo courtesy CBS Films)
God told Cain that he was forced to wander. But that was for a crime. The Jews wandered in the wilderness in the Book of Exodus. But they traveled as a group — and they had a destination of the Promised Land of Canaan. The magi weren’t sure where exactly where they were going. But they had the Star of Bethlehem to guide them.
Inside Llewyn Davis shows a modern version of wandering. It’s different from Biblical journeys. He’s a largely solitary man. He’s an anti-hero rejecting what is around him. Or maybe the passion for life has just been beaten out of him. He avoids responsibility and gravitates toward where he can be more of a loner. He’s self-sabotaging. It’s a twisted version of the hero’s journey that mythology scholar Joseph Campbell wrote about.
Not there’s much of a community to latch onto. The folk music scene doesn’t really seem to be a positive community. And no one is interested in politics or culture. Wouldn’t these people have at least had one conversation about the state of the world? Were they all really just waiting for Bob Dylan to stir them up?
But sometimes the music is beautiful and sincere. Particularly when Jean (Carey Mulligan) sings who is part of a Peter, Paul and Mary-like trio. But some of the music is also shown to be commercial novelty. Like Lleweyn’s friend Jim (Justin Timberlake), who records a goofy song about space travel. Another scene shows a quartet of men in matching sweaters singing a saccharine version of a folk song.
It’s possible the Coen Brothers are doing a disservice to the folk movement. The singers seem to have no political consciousness. They seem more like current-day indie band slackers or something out of the HBO’s slackerfest Girls (it doesn’t help that an actor from the show, Adam Driver, is in this movie).
Showing a business without much pity
It’s hard out here for a folk singer. Llewyn doesn’t have money for a winter coat, but still must journey through a New York City winter. (Photo courtesy CBS Films)
All in all, the movie shows a bleak view of the world. The downtown hipsters are bohemian deadbeats. Or they’re just interested in doing whatever they have to do to achieve commercial success. On the other side are music executives who only care about what music they think will sell. The most stunning line in the movie may be concert booker Bud Grossman (F. Murray Abraham) telling a character at one critical moment, “I don’t see a lot of money in this” after listening to a heartbreaking version of a folk song.
And there isn’t relief outside of New York. When Llweyn goes on a road trip his companions aren’t much help. They’re either uncommunicative like Johnny Five (Garrett Hedlund) — or unsympathetic like jazz musician Roland Turner (John Goodman).
However, the film is effective at debunking the American Dream of success. Hard work and sincerity won’t necessarily get you to where you want to go. Businessmen sign up who they think has commercial potential. Supposedly hipster folk night clubs are run by sexist goofballs. And a life of desolation or alienation awaits when one’s music isn’t recognized.
Despite the existentialist moodiness of the movie, it’s nonetheless easy to be taken in by it. The cinematography is stunning and despite his flaws, it’s possible to identify with Llewyn at times. He’s self-sabotaging, but a larger system of oppression seems to be working against him.
Here’s the trailer for ‘Inside Llewelyn Davis’:
