What's the frequency, Kenneth?

Rating: 8/10 (21 January 2014)

Viewers of INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS may well come out of the theater asking themselves, "What's your story, Llewyn?" WHO was the Mystery Man administering your beat-down in a Greenwich Village alley at this tale's opening and closing, and WHY are you so hell-bent on self destruction? Wikipedia says "What's the frequency, Kenneth?" is New York City slang for "a confused and clueless person," like the character Llewyn Davis. It originally referred to a mugging in which CBS newsman Dan Rather was clobbered by a thug on Park Avenue Oct. 4, 1986. Rather reported the unknown assailant queried him, "Kenneth, what is the frequency?" This was such a bizarrely crazy crime yarn that any solid American would have kept the story to themselves, rather than snitching to the police. Since Rather's mugger was proved to be convicted murderer William Tager in 1997, it's no surprise that Tager's words had to be polished somewhat into "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?" when the rock band R.E.M. immortalized Rather's funk in their 1994 song of that name. Joel and Ethan Coen have released a number of classic films, such as BLOOD SIMPLE, but they usually have some sort of a story. Folks songs, no matter how quaint, are not enough to tie together a collection of mostly unlikeable characters without providing a central story to give direction or provide a "plot." So, like the tawny cat(s) of this flick, I ask, "What's the frequency, Joel and Ethan?"