Inside Llewyn Davis ***** (2013, Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, John Goodman) – Movie Review

Another absolutely corker from the Coen Brothers, Inside Llewyn Davis is witty, quirky, funny, atmospheric and deliciously dark-hued. But it is charming, wise, enjoyably melancholic and hauntingly bitter-sweet too. Have the Coens mellowed over the years? Well, maybe. But not a lot.

Though there’s an offbeat topic for this movie, and weirdly no dead bodies anywhere in sight, it’s in every way a quintessential Coen film, their squillions of fans will be thrilled to hear. And it’s one of their best, too. I wanted it to go on for at least another hour and, when it didn’t, I wanted an instant rerun. Can’t remember so many movies like that, though No Country for Old Men pops to mind.

The Coens’ story tells the desperately sad but deliriously hilarious tale of week in the life of, oddly enough, Llewyn Davis, a young, talented enough folk singer in the Greenwich Village of 1961. Guitar and often somebody else’s ginger cat in tow, he huddles up against the freezing New York winter, broke, coatless and jobless, crashing on other people’s couches. With his low-key but rather abrasive personality, he’s upset most everyone who would help him.

Singing and playing well, he’s nevertheless struggling to make it as a musician against seemingly insurmountable obstacles. He doesn’t quite know it yet but he’s at the end of the line. it’s like the last act of Gypsy. There’s nowhere else to go but burlesque and stripping for Gypsy Rose Lee, but she’s going down fighting, and as it turns out not going down at all.

Here, Llewyn Davis thinks he’s just fighting and will make it. If only he had a better agent. If only his ex-girlfriend (Carey Mulligan) was nicer to him and wasn’t pregnant. If only he could land a gig in Chicago. If only there weren’t competition from blatantly commercial folk singers like Jim (Justin Timberlake). If only the real thing Bob Dylan wasn’t also around in the Greenwich Village of 1961.

The wry, offhand dialogue is hilarious, the quirky characters hysterical and the gorgeously shot film moves along at the briskest of paces, stopping off only for great cameos from John Goodman and F Murray Abraham. Goodman, a nutter who offers Davis a lift to Chicago, plays it terrifyingly large, and Abraham, the agent he meets there, frightening small. Both succeed.

I could bang on about the lovely period sense, brilliant production designs (art direction by Deborah Jansen) and Bruno (Amelie) Delbonnel’s glorious cinematography. Yes, we’ve got a bit of a labour of love art object here. A huge one. You could run the movie in an art gallery, the Museum of Modern Art or The Tate Modern. Hell, one day they will.

I must bang on about the exquisite lead performance of Guatemalan-born Oscar Isaac. Subtle and persuasive, he’s a knockout, pitch perfect. If that’s him singing, it’s just right too. Then, after Goodman and Abraham, my other favourite performance is feline. The ginger cat’s a total star too.

So there we have it, a film to relish and love, worship and adore. Thank you, Joel and Ethan,  for all the pleasure you’ve given both in Inside Llewyn Davis and in all the other movies over the past 30 years. You’re simply the best. No more remakes of old movies, though, please.

Its UK premiere is at the BFI London Film Festival on 15 October 2013 ahead of its general release on 24 January 2014.

© Derek Winnert 2013 Movie Review

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