So this is why I dislike folk music?

Rating: 1/10 (24 December 2013)

Hate to be the one sour note, and it is great that so many people can enjoy this movie. But from a musical and musicians point of view, it is hopelessly out of tune. And it is the biggest miss for music fans since Scorcese completely ruined a very good idea of filming a story about the swing era, New York, New York. The problem with both films, is that the directors exhibited a tin ear to what was really behind an entire genre of music, and failed to capture almost all of the joy, sweat and tears that goes into musical creativity. If the Coen's wanted to capture the tragedy of musical losers, then they have not even done that. Because the whole reason music becomes an obsession in the first place is because there is so much that is positive about even very small roles in the musical universe. And what the Coen's really miss is the small fact that the folk era was not just the petty lives of secondary artists, but an entire country, even an entire world, singing there heart out about the liberation that was sweeping human consciousness. And there was one other small fact; folk musicians were known for more that silly tantrums and little minds. Many of them, to this day, were satisfied to be historians, mythologists, and keepers of the flame from many cultures and traditions. The shocking glory of Joan Baez, Pete Seeger, Dylan in that style and so many others was pure magic. All of a sudden there was music of such simplicity and beauty, that the world was stunned. If the Coen's had any inkling of this in the making of this movie, I missed it.