The time is right, but the personality is all wrong! **** Spoiler Alerts****

Rating: 10/10 (1 January 2014)

First off, if you are looking for a better movie examining the life of a struggling artist, watch Al Pacino's "Chinese Coffee". To me that is more palpable than this movie, dialog wise puts this film to complete shame, acting wise, this movie is not even in the same league, even though I have to say it was well acted, but Chinese Coffee lacks the cinematic factor which gains so much more points these days and this movie has all the colors and camera work to substitute for that. Google the AL Pacino's Chinese Coffee movie and watch a youtube scene and judge for yourself. This movie is more poetic though, which leads to the viewer thinking in a different way when walking away from the movie. Don't get me wrong, I love the Coen brothers and find them a staple of movie making of our time with almost no one to match them in ticket price worth. Though disappointed with No Country for old men, which to me missed much of the major points in the book (There was a reason the book was called No Country for old Men and proves that most of the Oscar voters are not exactly concerned with the book's meaning if they even read it) and the most important scenes with Moss talking to the girl on the drive were completely missing! I can't help but love most of their work. They always leave you fascinated with the abstract of what we call normality and pull you into the scene in a very comfortable way regardless of the situation.
However, the reviews on IMDb show that most people had their own interpretation of the movie and the characters which is usually a good sign that the movie makers did their job right. Being an outsider to folk music, I have personally delved further into looking at the artists portrayed and finding jewels like Tom Paxton.
It's tough to think about this movie without being at odds about how I feel about it. I felt as though we didn't delve enough into the protagonist. He seems frozen by resentment and anger but short of knowing that he had a partner that committed suicide we don't know too much about how he was before as a person and an artist. We know he wasn't much of a success as a duet and learn that he doesn't want to get into a group again either. The root of anger wasn't just the lack of success, but there is a deeper cut here. One of the clues to me was when he gets upset at playing his music at a dinner table for guests and screams out that this is what he does for work although a couple times later he plays for others in a non-working environment (which confuses me more). Maybe, he is not enjoying it anymore in his own personal life and it's become a job. He seems like a purist and judges others who have goals that possibly lead to a suburban life instead of the art itself but maybe that is just envy. In another scene, he has his sister dispose remnants of his childhood without a second thought. The reason given is professional and lacks any personal explanation, letting me to believe he had an unhappy childhood or maybe his past is not important. I don't believe anyone easily disposes such personal items. I can step back and look at his character simply as an unsuccessful angry artist, but I think I wouldn't be doing it justice. There is more going on here, even if much of it lies in anger and resentment.
He seems to live in the moment and for most part the moments seem miserable to him. In an interview, the Coen brothers suggested that we all know someone like that who screws up his relationships with harsh unnecessary words. This is true, but he is also fed up with fake social behaviors. In a scene when he turns down a kindness of his agent giving him a jacket, he responds with unkind words, saying something about the gesture being fake, and he ends up being right. Charming, he is not but you can't disagree with his reactions all the time, especially when he gets fed up in the car with John Goodman's wisdom. The problem is that he has no balance and being desperate, unloved and struggling just to find a roof over your head does that to most of us. Accepting that your best is not good enough is a tough pill to swallow and if you have ever taken a risk to bypass the 9 to 5 soul killer and failed at it, you might relate to him more. I personally don't think he even knows he is a mean person, he catches himself being wrong but as a general view of himself, to me he appears clueless, much like the rest of us until someone points it out. The other artists around him seem much more relaxed and seem to be producing great works too but they seem more forgiving of themselves. None of them seem to be struggling with survival as much as him, but they are not that far off either. I think the saddest part of the story and maybe part of the message of this movie is that you can't let your failures dictate who you are. As short as life is, it's long enough to adjust and you need to find that strength after you have given yourself time and permission to recover. All and all, it was worth seeing it to me and I look forward to their next movie.
Please ignore the star rating, I personally think its more related on how you felt about life on that day or maybe what you consumed before the movie! Its an excellent film overall, so it only deserves one rating.