

Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)
๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐: A discussion into this filmโs position and meaning is unfortunately a discussion that is host to spoilers. Whilst not explicit, one may argue the content analysed gives away too much. Apologies, and proceed with caution.โฃ

Dear Dylan,โฃ
โฃ
When I put ๐๐ฏ๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐๐ญ๐ฆ๐ธ๐บ๐ฏ ๐๐ข๐ท๐ช๐ด (๐ธ๐ถ๐ท๐น) on for the first time, my initial thoughts during the first act were how indistinct the film was in comparison to other members of the Coen Brothers filmography. Being an addict of their bizarre and philosophical tales of long-lost-legends, I believed I was merely witnessing a cold and lonely tale of a struggling yet legitimate artist, with all the idiosyncrasies that define their body of work humbly blanketed. The second act served as a heat-check into just how narrow-minded I was, and once the film’s โcircleโ was complete, I realised I might have just watched the most definitive work of โCoenismโ to date.โฃ

โฃ๐๐ฏ๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐๐ญ๐ฆ๐ธ๐บ๐ฏ ๐๐ข๐ท๐ช๐ด is the story of Llewyn (Oscar Isaac), a talented and aspiring folk-musician with an equally impeccable talent as a magnet for bad luck. His attempts in asserting a name for himself are met with the same struggles and hardships youโd expect from a legitimate artist whose transcended from the slums; stories and fables that are only told by the eccentric humanoid-aliens who invade popular culture. Llewyn embodies all that is folk music: the grit, the optimism, and the reliance on whims. Heโs present on the folk scene in 1961, the year many artists refer to as a period where โsomething great and crucial happened.โ The only issue? That great and crucial โsomethingโ is not Llewyn. โฃ

๐๐ฏ๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐๐ญ๐ฆ๐ธ๐บ๐ฏ ๐๐ข๐ท๐ช๐ด seems like a film documenting the steppingstones of a soon-to-be artist living through his origin story, yet once it becomes apparent that weโre enduring a rogue flashback, it also becomes apparent we are witnessing Llewynโs conclusion. The film is not only host to all the most familiar Coen motifs (bizarre side-characters, dialogue repetition, blurred anti-heroes), but possibly the most dramatic portrayal of their utmost philosophy (similar to ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐๐ช๐ฏ๐ฌ slowly descending into the lower chasms of hell; or the way decadence eventually prevails in ๐๐ฐ ๐๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต๐ณ๐บ): ๐๐๐ข๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ซ๐.โฃ

โฃItโs this story of failure that makes us understand our own unjustified trust in the system. Solemn as it may be, Llewynโs absurd eventuation into just another โnobodyโ is a reality check to the masses of the entitled. The unpleasant and unfortunate destiny of Llewyn directly opposes the desired story structures that have been built by Western cinema over decades of entertainment. The film is a fable of the near-miss, the almost-famous, calamity without retribution. In other words, itโs not the story of success, but the unfortunate story of ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ด๐ฆ.โฃ

๐๐ฏ๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐๐ญ๐ฆ๐ธ๐บ๐ฏ ๐๐ข๐ท๐ช๐ด teaches us that we may feel like the carpet has been ripped out from underneath us, but as we look down at our cold, wet and insecure feet, weโ like Llewynโ realise it was never really there. โฃ
โฃ
A dolorous ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ข๐ท๐ฐ to you, Joel and Ethan.โฃ
โฃ
Warm regards,โฃ
โฃ
M.