"You should just walk around always, inside a great big
condom. Because you are shit."
When a director becomes known for a particular style or
brand of filmmaking they often run into a big problem: to continue to attempt
and deliver said style merely because it is expected and celebrated or whether
to allow the material to develop organically. It can be argued that two of the
biggest examples out there, Terrence Malick and Quentin Tarantino have
regressed to delivering almost parody like showings of their own work. Joel and Ethan Coen on the other hand have
done well to avoid this trap. While it can be argued this is due to their
preference for genre, the variety in their work continues to remain fresh. With
‘Inside Llewyn Davis’ the Coen Brothers deliver something they have never done
before; a straight realism piece.
Indeed
it is almost striking how much the different the presentation here is in comparison to the rest of their body of work. While the Coen Brothers trademark
cynicism still is prevalent, gone is their odd ball humor and more importantly
or obviously is the condescension towards their main characters. The Coen
Brothers love to ask the audience: “Can you see how stupid our characters are?
Do you see their mistakes? Laugh at how dumb they are!” Here, they merely
present the story of Llewyn, a struggling folk singer who attempts to come to
grips with his averageness, with a somber sense of sympathy. His struggles are not those of exaggerated
buffoons done for comedic effect, but rather of an everyday individual trying
to make sense of what it all means. Llewyn realizes his opportunity to make a
living at his passion is narrowing and he must choose to continue to pursue it
or abandon hope for something more stable. Given all this, it wouldn't be a
Coen Brothers script if it didn't end with a punch and ‘Inside Llewyn Davis’ is
no different as the ending is sure to make one look back at everything that
happened previously in the film with a whole new perspective.
