To flicks to see Inside Llewyn Davis this week. The thing about the Cohen Brothers' films is that they are an acquired taste. Sometimes I think I have acquired it - O Brother Where Art Thou, A Serious Man, The Hudsucker Proxy. Sometimes definitely not - No Country for Old Men (Very Nasty) Millers Crossing (Quite Nasty) Fargo (Nasty pretending it wasn't nasty) Sometimes I can sit through the films and not have the faintest idea what is going on. Barton Fink was a complete mystery from beginning to and was also quite nasty.
Inside Llewyn Davis is a movie about the folk scene in New York in 1961. Llewyn Davis is a folk singer for whom very little goes right and then it goes wrong again. Please see following bullet points for my considered opinion. May contain spoilers but as this is a Cohen movie - you may not understand them anyway.
- This is beautifully shot. The colours, the muted tones, the attention to detail seem perfect to me. I can't claim to be an expert on early sixties New York but it looked spot on to me.
- Carey Mulligan has a real presence. She isn't in this that much to be honest but when she is around - you don't look at anyone else.
- I love the courage the Cohens have just to take a fraction of a time - almost a story without a beginning middle or end and just show it - without any closure or redemption - and still hold you. It's very clever.
- I hate folk music. I try not to but I do. All that "leaving of Liverpool" droning on. No wonder people were so depressed. Do not try to convert me.
I'd quite like to see this film but, after seeing the trailers and being aware of the nastiness element of some Cohen brothers films, I'm worried about what becomes of the ginger cat. I don't want to disgrace myself by wailing loudly in the cinema should the mog come to an unfortunate end. Please offer copious reassurance!
ReplyDeleteEr...possibly best you give it a miss. Sorry.
ReplyDeleteI so want to see this. I LOVED O brother where art thou? but HATED No country for old men. But I am quite fond of folk music [ the happier end of it, not all the departing and dead sweetheart stuff]
ReplyDeleteFinances being what they are at the minute, we decided against a half term cinema trip, and got Lincoln DVD Very Cheap in Lidl, to watch on holiday. Halfway through we BOTH decided it was Too Deep and Too Worthy, and gave up. I may watch the end of it sometime. SPOILER ALERT I believe the President gets shot!
I think you would like it then, there's lots of folky like songs (that all get sung all the way through) and it's more towards the O Brother end of the Cohen spectrum than No Country. I LOVED Lincoln. I know what you mean about how slow it is but it pays off in the end.
DeleteI am waiting, patiently, for The Grand Budapest Hotel.
ReplyDeleteIt looks really beautiful
ReplyDeleteAnd entirely barmy. Should suit us fine on both counts. x
ReplyDeleteIndeed x
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