Inside Llewyn Davis Review

Inside Llewyn Davis

2 stars out of 4

By Brett Takeshita

Forgive me, but I didn't love Inside Llewyn Davis like so many other people do. And I'm disappointed because I was really hoping to like it. The performances are fantastic across the board, but unfortunately, I found this film to be rather unenjoyable.

Inside Llewyn Davis doesn't really have much of a plot to speak of. We follow Llewyn (Oscar Isaac), a struggling folk singer who's failed to catch his big break and become a star. He sings in bars and lounges but doesn't make enough money from singing to really live a comfortable life. For one week of his life, we follow Llewyn around the 1961 New York music scene and see how he -- and the people around him -- deal with his sad life.

Inside Llewyn Davis was written and directed by the acclaimed filmmakers, Joel and Ethan Coen. While I have never been a huge fan of the brothers, I have appreciated and enjoyed a couple of their films (with the rather recent True Grit being my favorite). With Inside Llewyn Davis, I feel that they have a misfire here. I understand the point that this movie isn't really supposed to have a story. However, for me, this film felt like a random string of events and pieces that never quite gelled together. There isn't really a coherent whole, which is rather unsatisfying.

What I found to be interesting was that I liked the side characters more than I liked Llewyn. Of course, I love Oscar Isaac and think that he gives a wonderful performance here, filled with nuance and subtlety, but he is playing a character with which I could not identify. Llewyn is slightly dull and occasionally pathetic. While these weird quirks to his character might work for some people, they didn't really work for me. I really love Llewyn's ex-girlfriend, Jean, played by the sensational Carey Mulligan, but she doesn't get enough screen time. (Her few scenes are by far the best scenes in the entire film). The same goes for singer Jim (Justin Timberlake) and mystery-man Johnny (Garrett Hedlund). Timberlake and Hedlund elevate the material and use their talents to flesh out their underwritten characters. I was dying to see more of them, but they only appear for about 5 or 10 minutes each in the film and then disappear. Throughout the film, we are introduced to a plethora of interesting characters that never get their moments to shine. It's disappointing that we don't get to know the side players better.

Perhaps I would have enjoyed this film more if the Coen brothers didn't accentuate so much of the drab, depressing aspects of Llewyn's story. This is already a heavy movie, but the Coen brothers' direction makes it even more depressing to watch. The tone -- and the film itself -- often meanders, perhaps paralleling the messy nature of Llewyn's life. However, I often didn't know whether I was supposed to laugh or feel sadness. And then I would occasionally get bored, because certain stretches of the film are very slow with little happening. All of these directorial choices are probably intentional, but for me, they didn't work.

Not all is bad with Inside Llewyn Davis. The cinematography, with its striking washed-out composition, is beautiful, and the music -- filled with heartbreaking ballads that speak more powerfully about Llewyn than the writing, itself -- is gorgeous. I feel so torn here because the Coen brothers are trying their best to present an unconventional film here, one that is all about sadness and the harsh, depressing realities of life. They are going the anti-Hollywood route, and I commend them for trying to do something different. I commend the actors even more for giving their all in performances that are lovely and alive. But ultimately, after much thought, I couldn't bring myself to truly like Inside Llewyn Davis. Others may heap praise upon this film, but I left the theater feeling cold and unfulfilled.