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Languid, mesmerizing, not as quirky as I was anticipating.
Follow Ups:
Van Ronk's name appears briefly on screen. When Davis flips his album over in the text on the back of the album. I don't know how I happened to see this as it was a just a second, and among a lot of text, but it's there...
Coens are real pros. They can recreate an era like no others. I was very much looking forward to this, because I love this era of music. And the music was really great. Even Justin Timberlake singing 500 Miles was great.
But this is more or less a character study of a reprehensible human being. And all the side characters are cool and quirky in the Coen way, like the John Goodman jazz guy, and his taciturn valet. But the side characters didn't add up to much.
I respected the absolute skill of the film making, but I did not really enjoy this.
I don't think the Davis character was meant to be a reprehensible human being. Like many artists trying to live their American dream at that time he was mostly letting fate guide him, and then didn't react well when his inability to make good decisions put him in a situation where he reacted emotionally.To my thinking, this had all the elements of sheer Coen masterpiece--a symbol of hope, the cat--which was lost and found and did and didn't belong to the protagonist at different times. It reminded me of the box Barton Fink carried around with him. An art form that must be cherished but was always manifest in the wrong place at the wrong time or was it the right place at the wrong time? Again, it reminded me of Barton Fink's art form, "of and by and for the common man"...themes the Coen bros explore often. And there were other themes and references to Ulysees and the musical odyssey that harkened to O Brother.
Even on the surface it worked very well in fully capturing the dysfunction and bipolar elements of an artist who at times feels on the cusp of making it big and the next moment feels like the biggest failure in the world.
SPOILER...
He was just doomed to become a sidenote of history right to the end, while Dylan was making his breakthrough performance at the Gaslamp, Davis was getting his ass kicked in the alley out behind the building. All because he had found out the day before that the lady he loved was sleeping with the proprietor. A realization he just didn't know how to deal with, so he lashed out at the wrong person. Story of his life. Not reprehensible, just an anti-hero with a guitar.I need to watch this a few more times myself. It's a deceptively simple movie, but there's a lot under the surface and it's very deftly produced.
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We must be the change we wish to see in the world. -Gandhi
Edits: 01/02/14
His dad… is that what he wanted to become or, rather, stay? That fueled his passion to succeed and made his perceived failure all the bitterer. F. Murray Abraham, as always, was spectacular in his cameo as the Chicago kingmaker. What a line, "I don't see any money there…."
Lots of quirky, human characters, including Goodman's turn as a bitter, aggressive jazzman: a nice contrast to the sympathetic Llewyn, who loved both animals and humans.
Even Llewyn's sister was note-perfect.
A gem, making me immediately wish to see O Brother again (Barton Fink was a cruel film, as I recall, though after your comments, I'll revisit it, too).
Nt
NT
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d
Nt
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