All the right notes

Rating: 10/10 (5 January 2014)

After Joel and Ethan Coen had a very prolific three years between 2008 and 2010 ("Burn After Reading", "A Serious Man" and "True Grit"), "Inside Llewyn Davis" is their only film since 2011. That, however, is not a problem at all as I'd love to wait three years for a film like this one. There's some films I like from the two and some I don't like, for example I wasn't too impressed by "The Big Lebowski", but I quite love "No Country for Old Men", and I haven't seen many of their earlier works, but I can safely say that, so far, "Inside Llewyn Davis" is my favorite film they made and as well my new favorite film of 2013 with Isaac probably being my second or third favorite male performance next to Didi Hallervorden and Geoffrey Rush. Wonderful to see the Coens peak for me at this point and I am hoping for at least 20 more years of quality moviemaking from the brothers. I'm definitely curious about their next projects.
Back to the movie: I'm not shy of saying I found it a modern masterpiece, especially for the music genre and it wouldn't be difficult at all to write an own paragraph about the majority of scenes from this film and the genius behind it in terms of the characters, their actions and words. For lead actor Oscar Isaac, this movie should be a deal-breaker in landing crucial parts in films for many years to come. Of course, he owes so much here not only to his talent, but also to his writer-director duo. The Coens are the absolute masters right now in character creation (and casting the perfect people for those characters): the secretary in Mel's office, the elevator guy, the owner of the music bar or Troy Nelson of course, a character that pretty much defines the see-no-evil, likable (and highly talented) dimwit for years to come. Stark Sands may have been the perfect casting for him as well. John Goodman you just have to experience yourself how he starts rambling about his alleged voodoo background all of a sudden or about Brooklyn Bridge or about all the other wisdom or what he assumes wisdom. His character's expressions are pretty much the perfect example of the Coen's gift in writing dialogs.
Besides that, cat lovers will probably also enjoy this one as we see three ginger cats in what could almost be considered portrayals thanks to the way their actions were written and the first cat related scene at the Gorfein's may very well be the funniest of the entire film. Back to the human characters and to Llewyn: I also quite liked the one scene with his agent and the coat early on in the film. It perfectly summarizes him as a character. Llewyn Davis is not a hero. He's incredibly flawed, occasionally downright unlikeable, but still you feel for him in most situations. A true anti-hero. Another highlight is the music, right away from the first second with Isaac singing the first song of the film already. This gets us in the perfect mood for everything that is about to come music-wise and story-wise. Well done to all the singers and writers in this film. "Please Mr Kennedy" is the definition of groovy. "Five Hundred Miles" and "Last Thing on my Mind" will touch you and we also hear a moving Bob Dylan number in the background as we continue witnessing Llewyn's path. Maybe taking into account the renditions of all the songs and scenes in which they were played, my choice for favorite song would be "The Death of Queen Jane" played by Davis' character to F. Murray Abraham's character in a final attempt to save his singing career. Breathtaking effort.
This is an outstanding film and you should all go experience it yourself. Cannes got it right. Even if the film is set over 50 years before today, it has all the issues which are more than common today and probably always will be: economic struggles, pregnancies, abortions, fatherhood, career, sick family members and most of all taking the right paths. One could probably make a convincing argument on this movie being a great metaphor on homelessness. And yet, the film makes you smile all the way from start to finish thanks to the clever approach of situation comedy. I thought there was only one downright sad scene, namely the final car trip scene with the guy sleeping in the backseat and Llewyn driving and taking or not taking the crossroads to a different (better?) life with classical music playing strongly. Also the final line of F. Murray Abraham's character about reuniting had me choked up a bit. How effective can one line be?
A nice way to end my review is comparing the first to the final scene and the change of perspective we reached thanks to everything happening in-between. At first, we see a pretty talented musician being beaten by a stranger whose outfit looked a bit like organized crime. When we see the same scene near the end again, we see it from a totally different perspective and that Davis certainly had it coming and we could even understand the other man's approach. Of course, we also shouldn't forget that Davis' motivation that resulted in him being beaten up happened really more as an act in the heat of the moment as he just found out that he was probably simply targeted by Jean for being the weakest link. And that comes only right after he and Jean had a moment of true harmony for the very first time in the film. And also she allows him to sleep at her place a couple nights during cold winter, which is an act of mercy despite her permanent feistiness towards Llewyn. It's not a story of good or bad characters. They all have too many different shades and this is what makes this film a perfect 10/10.