Throwback Thursday: Still ended up in outer space...
Thursday, January 21, 2016 at 7:26AM Lynn Lee here, with a little "before they were in Star Wars" trip down memory lane...
Remember when Poe Dameron and Kylo Ren did a novelty song with Justin Timberlake?
Does this mean JT will be joining them at some point in our favorite outer space saga? Maybe there can be a truce trio - or even a quartet with Daisy Ridley...
Inside Llewyn Davis (2013) is one of those films that I didn't love when I first saw it but gradually burrowed its way into my soul. I now think it's one of the Coen brothers' best. Of course, a lot of credit goes to the gorgeous musical performances, especially Oscar Isaac's solo turns, even if they're continually punctuated (and punctured) by the complete lack of on-screen audience appreciation. Or maybe all the more because of that: you feel like you're making a private discovery, whether of the character or the actor, or both. Definitely worth revisiting, if nothing else as the sad-mask companion piece to "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" or for the always-welcome reminder that Oscar Isaac can sang.
Reader Comments (14)
f murray abraham's line after oscar's stunningly sung audition is like a punch in the face
i love this film
One of the Coens' best and a devastating look at the lonely and sad path some artists must tread. Oscar is a revelation and makes douchery charismatic.
The Coens are pass or fail filmmakers. Never has a film of theirs failed for me then earns a pass on revisit. When I hate something they do it is the absolute worst. I love Inside Llewyn Davis it works as a companion piece to Barton Fink. Two movies about creative people being crushed either by the process to create while under pressure to compromise or being ahead of their time. Both movies left many cold. But the best movies about the creative process almost feel like a small niche for those who care about what being creative feels like.
This movie is a masterpiece. One of the best of the century for me.
par -- A+ moment in a film i don't even like that much. I was floored by that whole sequence.
Thank you for this! Two years later, and I still can't stop listening to the glorious soundtrack. This movie really hit me hard from the very first viewing, and only hits me harder with each subsequent viewing.
There's so much going on in this film about grief and moving on and the arbitrariness of success and who achieves it. I'm not sure that I've ever seen a film before about that exact moment when you realize your success is never happening. It's brutal, but strangely comforting. Oscar Isaac should have won an Oscar. What a brilliant performance.
(But I still can't make sense of that bonkers John Goodman episode.)
I love this movie so much. Oscar Isaac's response to F. Murray Abraham's piece of advice is such a heartbreaker.
I like the movie a lot too, but I also didn't care much for it when it came out. Even with its comedic and musical elements the movie is dark. It requires an intimacy that I think didn't serve it well theatrically, but makes for great Netflix viewing. On a rainy day. With a fire going and a warm bowl of soup.
I love this movie. Happy to see it show up here.
One of my favorite Coen films. No lie.
Lynn Lee here...
par: I KNOW. I almost included that scene as the bonus clip. That, and the scene where he sings to his dad, just slay me every time.
Nicolas: Beautifully put. And I haven't figured out exactly what's going on with the John Goodman interlude either, although it does contribute to the movie's odyssey-like structure. (or maybe seeing him just reminded me of his role in O Brother, Where Art Thou.)
Sawyer: that's a great recommendation for us East Coasters who are hunkered down waiting for the incoming blizzard. :)
If this movie was as good as it's best moments or Oscar Isaac's performance, we'd be talking about a film for the all time lists. But yeah, that moment with F. Murray Abraham is just filmmaking of the highest order.
"Inside Llewyn Davis (2013) is one of those films that I didn't love when I first saw it but gradually burrowed its way into my soul." yaaaaas. Was disappointed and found it lackluster the first time around, but there are certain parts that I can never get out of my head, and I genuinely love it now after repeat watchings. I think it helps that I've adjusted my expectations of what I thought it was going to be about: a screwball and uplifting ballad about folk musicians; what it is actually about is a man grieving for the loss of his soulmate and partner and the cyclical burden of artistic/professional failure and depression. Another great addition to the Coens' repertoire of inverted American mythology.
(and because of that, ILD is a great companion piece to True Grit, which sets out to be about American individualism and revenge, but turns out to be a much more sorrowful piece about the cost of these things)