Realistic enough to make performers wince

Rating: 8/10 (6 September 2014)

As an active member of the poetry, folk music and performing arts community in Melbourne, which is burgeoning just as the Village Scene was at the time of the movie and which is one of the most active arts communities in the world, I was interested to see this movie. A sort of low-key folk 'This Is Spinal Tap', like that movie it is accurate enough to make you wince.
I'm new to the Coen Brothers but I've watched about half of their films. Their main strengths are in the creation of lead characters who are memorable and complex, the excellent cinematography- always including wonderful and significant shots - and the well-visualised environments. Their movies, when based on their own texts, can be a bit simplistic, or as one reviewer here said, linear. That is, they have depth but can in some ways lack complexity. Their versions of life are still to some extent a Hollywood imagination or perspective, grounded in an imagining of reality rather than in the experience of it. Also it is only really the central character that is thoroughly depicted, though the other characters always have life. When they are using an external text, as in 'No Country For Old Men', they are capable of making movies that provoke thought and questions that can be considered for many years. The supporting characters in that movie have strong existences and realism. The Coens would be better off in many cases using texts written by actual members of the worlds they depict.
The criticisms from veterans of that scene who say the movie does not truly represent the vibrancy of it are not justified. This movie is not attempting to be 'Nashville'. It visually demonstrates the internal world of the lead character.
In some ways this movie is a homage to struggling performers and as such, should be seen by anyone who is a part of a similar scene. The first two thirds of this film contain consistent comedy which is low-key but hilarious in a quiet way. After that it may turn too dark for some viewers. A good movie and one that I will revisit, but not a great one.