4) Inside Llewyn Davis
Life’s hard for Llewyn Davis (Oscar Isaac), the tragicomic hero of the Coen Brothers’ ode to the starving artist. A folk singer determined to make his own kind of music and also find success, Llewyn is stuck in a rut. He’s old-fashioned to make it big but too committed to his bit to ever compromise. Isaac makes the character incredibly likable, even in moments of frustrating stubbornness and coldness towards others. The Coen Brothers don’t deal in simple protagonists, and Llewyn is certainly complex enough to hold his own film. He’s grieving his partner’s death, struggling to make his way in the world, failing to build relationships with the people in his life and simply unwilling to confront his own shortcomings.
All of this comes out in the film’s music, which truly takes us inside Llewyn Davis in a way better experienced than described. Three of the film’s central songs – “Hang Me, Oh Hang Me,”  “Fare Thee Well (Dink’s Song),” and “The Death of Queen Jane” – are still swirling around in my head and giving me new things to consider about Inside Llewyn Davis.
Jean (Carey Mulligan, wonderfully tart) says at one point, “That’s why all the same shit is going to keep happening to you, because you want it to!” She has a point, and the Coen Brothers expertly capture both the cyclic nature of Llewyn’s existence and his willingness to keep going round and round. He’s hoping for a break but lacks the drive or originality to earn one. Thematically, the film is as rich and layered as anything the Coen Brothers have ever done. Particularly, James Joyce’s Ulysses plays a major role in the story, one that becomes more pronounced upon multiple viewings. The writer-directors do right by their 1961 Greenwich Village setting, and they work Llewyn into the time period so seamlessly that every aspect of his character rings true.
Inside Llewyn Davis is one of the Coen Brothers’ darkest and most relentlessly melancholy works. It’s also one of their finest and most fully formed.
For more on the film, check out our exclusive video interview with the cast below.
