Wait this isn’t the Bob Dylan biopic??- ‘Inside Llewyn Davis’

 After a long hiatus, the blog is back!! I know you missed me

I’ve been thinking about writing again for a while, but honestly, I was living with some crazy cinephiles, and we were watching films at a speed that was probably not healthy. Work by day, film viewing by night—it was bliss. That being said, I spent more time yapping in person about whether the film we watched each evening was brilliant or a snooze fest, instead of writing it down! Now that my living situation has changed, it's the perfect time to bring back Evie’s Good Film Hunting, and what better way than to kick things off with a sad one.

 

The Coen brothers' ‘Inside Llewyn Davis’ follows a struggling folk singer in 1960s New York, portrayed candidly by Oscar Isaac. Despite being ridiculously good-looking and having an obvious gift for writing beautifully crafted folk songs (how did the songwriters not get an Oscar nomination for this??), Llewyn’s career is mediocre at best. This resulted in an authentic and heartbreaking story that had me Googling, “Is Llewyn Davis real?”. 

 

When writing up my review I was shocked to see this film frequently labelled as a comedy. I mean, sure, there’s that one ridiculous scene where Oscar Isaac, Justin Timberlake, and Adam Driver sing a goofy song about President Kennedy, but the film is just an endless cycle of failures for Llewyn. The man is homeless, carrying around his album on vinyl for no one to buy and constantly being made to look a fool by a ginger cat. 

 

One thing I really want to praise is the character development. Devoting the entirety of the screenplay and runtime bring Llewyn to life really enabled this almost biopic style that worked so well. Depicting anyone’s life, fictional or otherwise, on screen quite plainly depends on this aspect to be done right. Regardless of the cast performances, look or sound of the film, simply put if the character development doesn’t work, the film will be shit. 

 

When I was thinking about this film in the milliseconds after finished it and quantifying those 104 minutes into the 5-star review metric on my Letterboxd app I was very aware that I like this film. But that doesn’t mean you will. Essentially this film was not a good time. It was bitterly bleak and constantly cold. Which is the sort of film I always end up appreciating. Would I recommend this to some of my friends whose favourites include Mamma Mia and Paddington? Hell no. I personally had this film on my watch list for a while, primarily because I discovered last year, I love a wee bit of Bob Dylan especially when I am feeling anxious. For this very reason, and the fact I appreciated the Patti Smith memoir ‘Just Kids’, the concept of struggling music artist in 60s New York was a must see for me. 

 

The one aspect I didn’t appreciate was the look of this film. Since GCSE English Literature I have been aware of the technique of pathetic fallacy, so yes poor Llewyn was constantly cold and constantly wet. But it just so, so bleak. Fits the story well but with such strong characters developed I don’t think it needed to look as drab for the audience to appreciate he had a tough time. 

 

I wouldn’t be able to write a review of ‘Inside Llewyn Davis’ without devoting an entire paragraph to Ulysses, the pesky ginger kitty who features prominently in the story. Now, if this were 2010 and I were Paddy McGuinness hosting ‘Take Me Out’, I’d be using the line, 'Let the Llewyn meet the Ulysses!' because this cat was undoubtedly the best sidekick. His constant presence in the film was clearly symbolic. In some odd way, I thought the cat reflected Llewyn’s personality. He, too, is a drifter, using charm to take care and support from others. Llewyn's continual efforts to find, chase after, and keep the cat, all in an attempt to save it, perhaps indicate he was trying to save himself. Eventually, he abandons the cat he believed to be the true Ulysses in a car near Chicago, while the real Ulysses makes his way home without help. When Llewyn stops trying to save the cat, he gives up on his music career. In light of this had I attended private school and had the opportunity to learn about classics, I might have been able to understand the significance of the name Ulysses—but I didn’t. With some retrospective Googling, I found that Ulysses, much like Llewyn, is a character known to symbolize perseverance.

 

Now if the upcoming Bob Dylan biopic is anything like this, I’ll be one happy lady. 

Evie 14 October 2024