Coen Brothers month: Inside Llewyn Davis

A review by Brooks Rich

I separate the Coen's filmography into three categories. The films that are the least of their works for one reason or the other. Just something about them doesn't work. Films like Intolerable Cruelty, Hudsucker Proxy, and Ladykillers. Then there are the good to great films, the ones that are really good but aren't their best. Films like No Country For Old Men, Blood Simple, Barton Fink, and True Grit. Then there are the masterpieces. The best they have to offer. The ones that define who they are. Films like Fargo, Raising Arizona, The Big Lebowski, and this. Inside Llewyn Davis is a masterpiece.

It's hard to describe the plot of this film. Essentially it's a week in the life of a struggling folk singer in Greenwich Village in February of 1961. He has been in a low spot since his folk partner killed himself. Oscar Isaac imbues Davis with a real-world cynicism. He is kind of an asshole but we understand why he is. Everything goes wrong for him. It's almost like the Coens are adapting the story of Job again like they did in A Serious Man.

There are two Coen films centered around music, this and O Brother, Where Art Thou. The music here is more of a character though. Llewyn is defined by his music. At the end of the day, it's all he has and unfortunately, his window to be successful might have already closed. This is one of the Coen's bleakest films, even though there is this atypical bittersweet humor running throughout the film.

This film works best if you know how the Coen's wrote it. They structured it like a folk song, so the beginning and end bookend each other. This is a film for cinephiles but I think it's one of their strongest films and possibly their best film since 2010.

Comments

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

A retrospective by Brooks Rich Let's kick off the spooky season with a bona fide classic. I love the horror genre, but not much really scares or creeps me out. Most horror films I just watch and enjoy. However, 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' is one of those that really gets under my skin, and not just because the Sawyer family are eating people. The way Tobe Hooper shoots the film gives it an almost documentary feel. If you have never seen 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre,' you should probably fix that immediately. Do I need to explain what it's about? A group of '70s kids is driving across Texas in a van and runs afoul of the Sawyer family, including the man himself, Leatherface. It's a classic of the horror genre and one of the pioneers of the '70s and '80s horror boom. The film has a reputation for being sickeningly bloody and violent, but that is not true. It's essentially a bloodless film, which makes it even more horrifying. Most of the violence...

Forgotten Film Friday: Absolute Power

Clint Eastwood stars as Luther Whitney, a jewel thief who works in the Washington DC area. One night while he is stealing from a mansion he is forced to hide in a secret compartment with a two way mirror. From there he observes a sexual rezendevous with the wife of a powerful man and the President of the United States Alan Richmond (Gene Hackman) Suddenly the president gets aggressive and while defending herself the woman is shot to death by two Secret Service agents. Luther manages to get away with a letter opener the woman stabbed the president with. At first Luther plans to flee the country. But when he is disgusted by a statement the president makes, Luther decides to expose the crime. I miss these kind of films. The nineties was a great time for thrillers exactly like this. They are not the flashiest films but they are also not obsessed with big action scenes. It's all plot and character with them. Sure this plot might be a little out there but Eastwood makes it work. He's...

John Candy month: Summer Rental

A retrospective by Brooks Rich Air traffic controller Jack Chester (John Candy) is given paid time off when he nearly causes two airline disasters. He takes his family down to Florida for a vacation. Hijinks ensue because its '80s comedy and Candy ends up challenging a pompous Richard Crenna to a yacht race to close out the summer. This is a movie that has been forgotten to time in the grand scheme of Candy's career. Even with Carl Reiner directing it does have the same name recognition as some of Candy's other works. But I think it's a solid entry in his filmography. He plays a great everyman who we have no problem rooting for. The slobs versus snobs relationship he has with Crenna works like a charm and he genuinely seems like a good father and husband. Candy was always great at playing both the everyman and the aloof goofball. Sometimes he'll even play both. His character of Jack Chester in this is a good example of that. At times Jack is the goofy comic relief...

Cinema Basement

Search This Blog