Inside Llewyn Davis

Written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, Inside Llewyn Davis follows Oscar Isaac’s title character, a 1960s folk singer, as he attempts to break into the mainstream without sacrificing his integrity – with the movie detailing Llewyn’s various personal and professional struggles over a few unusually eventful days. It’s perhaps not surprising to note that Inside Llewyn Davis has been infused with as deliberate and leisurely a pace as one could possibly envision, as the Coen brothers employ a narrative that is, without question, unapologetically episodic from start to finish – which naturally does ensure that the film is only really effective in fits and spurts (ie certain sequences fare much, much better than others). There is, as such, little doubt that one’s interest level remains at a fairly consistent level throughout, although, by that same token, it’s difficult to downplay the effectiveness of a few key moments – with Llewyn’s recording of a novelty song, alongside Justin Timberlake’s Jim and Adam Driver’s Al, standing as an obvious highlight within the proceedings (and indeed a highlight within the Coen brothers’ entire filmography). It’s clear, too, that Inside Llewyn Davis benefits substantially from Isaac’s mesmerizing turn as the curmudgeonly protagonist, with the actor’s stellar work here going a long way towards smoothing over the movie’s decidedly erratic sensibilities. (The supporting cast, which includes Carey Mulligan, Garrett Hedlund, and F. Murray Abraham, perpetuates the film’s watchable atmosphere, though it’s ultimately clear that John Goodman, cast as a junkie jazz musician, ranks highest among the periphery players.) Inside Llewyn Davis‘ eventual transformation into a low-key (and thoroughly downbeat) character study ensures that it does, to a certain extent, peter out long before it reaches its ambiguous conclusion, which, to be sure, finally confirms the film’s place as an almost prototypically uneven effort from the Coen brothers.

**1/2 out of ****