← Back to Reviews
in
Show him the way to go home
"Subterranean Blues"
Directed by Joel and Ethan Coen
I recently rewatched the Coen brothers’ 2013 film “Inside Llewyn Davis,” and realized that I like this film quite a bit. I think it may be the Coen’s most powerful drama. The story of a struggling folk singer during the coffeehouse ’60s, “Inside Llewyn Davis” uses New York’s East Village as the backdrop to a chorus of the Greek tragedy blues. Their showbiz story doesn’t trace the rise of a star; it’s a small dirge about a working stiff with a bit of talent, less money, and an ego driven by tireless desperation. How his hubris meets its demise bidding “bon voyage” to his dreams in the winter slush of a Chicago audition is an American Aristotelian awakening. Llewyn’s tragedy is The Great One: He’s a hipster Willie Loman. The deepest cut of all in the land of opportunity and midnight cafe is the failed dream — the swing-and-a-miss at success. An anti-hero of Brooklyn, Davis isn’t particularly likeable. He has chutzbah for bravery and desperation for daring, and is pretty much tossed by the tempest of himself during his odyssey to retrieve a cat named “Ulysses.” Llewyn, frankly, is a bit of a bastard, but the magnitude of his fall – he gets hit hard, real hard – sees the redemption of his character: He’s broken but made sane again – a chance Willie Loman never got. Fans can expect the Cohen’s delightful humor, but the film’s real reward is it powerful transitioning from absurdist picaresque to American tragedy, portrayed through deft writing by the Coens worthy of Miller himself. “Inside Llewyn Davis” reaches deep, quietly revealing what has been tormenting Llewyn, and why he needed so desperately to succeed at his art.
Show him the way to go home
"Subterranean Blues"
Directed by Joel and Ethan Coen
I recently rewatched the Coen brothers’ 2013 film “Inside Llewyn Davis,” and realized that I like this film quite a bit. I think it may be the Coen’s most powerful drama. The story of a struggling folk singer during the coffeehouse ’60s, “Inside Llewyn Davis” uses New York’s East Village as the backdrop to a chorus of the Greek tragedy blues. Their showbiz story doesn’t trace the rise of a star; it’s a small dirge about a working stiff with a bit of talent, less money, and an ego driven by tireless desperation. How his hubris meets its demise bidding “bon voyage” to his dreams in the winter slush of a Chicago audition is an American Aristotelian awakening. Llewyn’s tragedy is The Great One: He’s a hipster Willie Loman. The deepest cut of all in the land of opportunity and midnight cafe is the failed dream — the swing-and-a-miss at success. An anti-hero of Brooklyn, Davis isn’t particularly likeable. He has chutzbah for bravery and desperation for daring, and is pretty much tossed by the tempest of himself during his odyssey to retrieve a cat named “Ulysses.” Llewyn, frankly, is a bit of a bastard, but the magnitude of his fall – he gets hit hard, real hard – sees the redemption of his character: He’s broken but made sane again – a chance Willie Loman never got. Fans can expect the Cohen’s delightful humor, but the film’s real reward is it powerful transitioning from absurdist picaresque to American tragedy, portrayed through deft writing by the Coens worthy of Miller himself. “Inside Llewyn Davis” reaches deep, quietly revealing what has been tormenting Llewyn, and why he needed so desperately to succeed at his art.