Inside Llewyn Davis

Each movie that we watch is a little world unto itself.  Having said that, some movie makers do a particularly good job at creating worlds with every movie they make.  I can think of no other filmmakers who do this better than Joel and Ethan Coen.  They always choose distinct settings for their stories, and that lends itself to the creation of worlds.  However, they seem to inhabit each little world that they make so well that I always feel that I am being transported to that world.

The world in which "Inside Llewyn Davis" is set is Greenwich village in the early 1960's.  Specifically, the folk world of that era is depicted, and Greenwich village was so important to that scene that it is the most obvious place for this story's setting.  Llewyn Davis (Oscar Isaac) is a struggling folk singer who has lost is partner to suicide and is having trouble selling his solo album.  He spends every night on the couch of friends, family or fans as he attempts to piece a life together.  His close friends and colleagues Jim and Jean Berkey (Justin Timberlake and Carey Mulligan) are beginning to meet with some success.  However, Jean is pregnant, and is not sure who the father is, since she had been involved with Llewyn.  This sets off a chain of events that lead to an almost Ecclesiastes type story.  For Llewyn, the more things change, the more they stay the same.

The film is stylized but also quite real.  Having spent time in Greenwich village, some of the street were familiar to me.  I felt that I was a fly on the wall actually experiencing life as it was in the early 60's.  The film is shot with almost a slight sepia tone, so it ends up having a vintage-type look, even though it is a totally modern picture.  Since I am a casual fan of the Greenwich scene (I am a big Bob Dylan fan-a man who emerged from the scene in the Village), I was probably able to view the details of the movie with a less critical eye than others.  However, as I mentioned above, the distinctness of the setting is important to the movie, and the Coens realize the world very well.  The fact that the place wherein the movie is set is a real place with a real history only makes the world more engaging.  New York emerges as a major character in the film, and the camera loves the city.  The bleak winter is also a major character, and it acts as a catalyst to much of the action.

As Llewyn continues to encounter heartbreak and lack of success, there are some deeper lessons that he learns.  However, there is a restlessness to the character that seems to be part of the point.  He is an uncompromising artist, and that ends up costing him money and success.  And while some movies might glory in that, this movie simply shows an artist who has no success, but dwells almost in the shadow of people like Dylan and Peter Paul and Mary.  The movie gives us enough glimpses into Llewyn's life that we ache for some of the losses that he endures, but we also know that his loneliness is self imposed.  He is a sort of Vincent Van Gogh of Bleeker Street...the uncompromising, struggling artist who ends up with barely a livelihood.

The Coens have been creating worlds like this for so long that it can be easy to take it for granted.  This is a film whose world and details are every bit as real and poignant as those in the Twin Cities ("Fargo" and "Serious Man"), Arizona ("Raising Arizona"), Texas ("Blood Simple"), Mississippi ("O Brother, Where Art Thou?") or any other place the Coens happen to make a film about.  They are impressionists with a movie camera and a screenplay, and they capture hints of truth in every world that they depict.  They accomplish this through accuracy, humor, exaggeration, and a marvelous investment in the characters they create.  Some day they will stop building these little worlds in their sandbox, and we will all be the poorer for it.

Nebraska

I have become something of a fan of Alexander Payne, who directed this slightly eccentric slice of Midwestern life.  While there is at least one of this movies that I did not like ("Sideways", for those keeping score), even that film had a lot of great substance to it.  His last three films ("About Schmidt", "The Descendants", and "Nebraska") have all had significant things to say regarding parental relationships, particularly with fathers.  All three of them also dwell in the shadow of death.  In "About Schmidt" and "The Descendants", the principle character is a widower dealing with the death of his wife.  Here, death plays a more subtle role, but it is no less present as the main characters in the film are living their lives knowing that time is growing short.

Woody Grant (Bruce Dern) is a Korean War Vet who has lived a blue collar life tainted by alcoholism.  The beginning of the film depicts scenes which make clear that he is beginning to lose his faculties.  Woody becomes convinced that he has won $1 million in a publisher's sweepstakes, and is continuing to try to make the trip to Lincoln, Nebraska, to claim his prize.  The problem is that Woody lives in Billings, Montana, which is hundreds of miles from Lincoln.  After many failed attempts at thwarting his dad, Woody's son David (Will Forte, who makes a nice transition here away from comedy) finally agrees to humor his old man and drive him to Lincoln.  On the way to Lincoln, they end up stopping for a visit in Hawthorne, Nebraska, the town where Woody grew up.  Much of Woody's family is still there, as well as old friends and business partners.  The residents of Hawthorne come to believe that Woody has actually won the money, and many of Woody's family and friends begin to scheme ways to get a piece of his supposed wealth.

The premise of the movie is a simple one.  The movie ends up being a study of its characters.  It is mostly a study of David, and his journey to not only discover more about his father, but also about the dynamics of his whole family.  For example, at first, Woody's wife comes across as nagging and abrasive.  While David's and our journey don't totally change her personality, her behavior begins to make more sense as we see not only Woody's alcoholism, but also how he has been treated by the people in his past.  In the end, it is clear that even though theirs isn't a marriage of bliss, the partnership does have deep loyalties and history that is only seen better as the complexities of Woody's life become more clear.  As David makes the journey with his father, he ends up having to come to grips with some of his own frustrations with his father, but he also learns to appreciate his father more.  There is a famous line from the book (and the movie) "To Kill a Mockingbird" wherein the protagonist, Atticus Finch, tells her daughter that no one can really judge anyone else until they get inside their skin and walk around in it.  As David looks at life more through his father's eyes, there only seems to be a sense of appreciation mixed with regret.  His father was distant and fallible, but David does seem to have some kind of appreciation for him.  As Woody's entire nuclear family (which becomes complete when David's news anchor brother Ross shows up in Hawthorne) comes together, the bond that is between them (however distant and different they are as people) is felt palpably by the viewer. 

The choice to shoot the film in black and white works on many levels.  The starkness of the landscape creates a reflective picture of the lives of the people in the story.  The Midwest is a part of the country that has a character and culture all its own, and the black and white photography bring out the feel of that classic American culture that is found in the Midwest.  Finally, the particular lives of the people in the film have stark realities that black and white help bring out.  Part of the reality of Woody's life is that his time is growing short, and there is a lot of regret not only to his own life, but his family clearly have regrets as well.  Payne's last three movies have all dealt with uncomfortable family dynamics, and that conflict is skillfully executed.  They remind us of our common humanity and common struggles, but also of some of the comforts we find in family.