Inside Llewyn Davies

INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIES

Director : The Coen Brothers

Year : 2014

Genre : Comedy

Rating : **

With movies under their belts such as 'Fargo', 'No Country For Old Men', 'Blood Simple' and 'The Big Lebowski', it's no wonder that Joel and Ethan Coen are two of the most revered and critically acclaimed directors working in cinema today. However having made 16 films over a three decade career, there are sure to be a few misfires and sadly 'Inside Llewyn Davies' falls into this admittedly small subcategory. While it boasts reliably beautiful cinematography and an entertaining soundtrack sung by it's cast, 'Inside Llewyn Davies' falls on it's face when it comes to giving us remotely likable characters or a narrative to care about. The release of a Coen Brothers movie is always a major movie event for me, but unfortunately, this new release proves to be a crippling disappointment.

Oscar Isaac plays the titular Davies, an aspiring folk musician who is failing to find his way around the conservative streets of 1960's New York. He is so dedicated and determined to realise his dreams that his life has become an endless whirlpool of poverty and self loathing, leeching from his family and friends and resorting to sleeping on couches. The film then follows a week in his life where multiple life changing events take place and the folk singer takes a final stand to change his life for the better.

Just like every one of the Coens movies, 'Inside Llewyn Davies' looks beautiful but as was the case  2009's 'A Serious Man', the sumptuous cinematography fails to detract from the lack of remotely interesting characters or plot. It does do somewhat of a successful job of exploring the pressures of  the futility of realising our true dreams and trying to stand out in a permissive and traditional world but these interesting ideologies and themes are lost amongst a sea of utterly horrible characters and a dull and dragging narrative. If the plot had been more intriguing, then the detestable people on screen may have had more motivation and a chance to become more emotionally connecting to the audience. Oscar Isaac is very good in the central role but there is not one redeeming element to his character and within 20 minutes, I had grew weary of his lackadaisical attitude and utter contempt for responsibility and other peoples feelings. The usually brilliant Carey Mulligan is completely overplayed as the foul mouthed ex girlfriend of the selfish and self centred Llewyn and the rest of the cast is made up of completely forgettable performances from such actors as Justin Timberlake and Coen favourite John Goodman. 

While there are a few things to admire about 'Inside Llewyn Davies', it is hard to recommend it. It fails to compare to much of the Coens past filmography which is filled with diversity and extraordinary cinematic invention. As mentioned previously it looks gorgeous and the folk soundtrack is great to listen to but at the end of the day, these elements fail to make the film anything more than a good looking but ultimately obnoxious bore. I really wanted to like 'Inside Llewyn Davies' but instead I ended up growing to despise it for it's utter lack of character, charm and overall entertainment value.