I saw Inside Llewyn Davis for the first time when it was in theaters. Man, I need to get back into going to the theater. I remember being a little muted in my appreciation for it, since I didn’t think the people that I saw it with liked it as much as I did. But it really spoke to me, and it has lingered on my mind ever since.
It got me to go to A New Hope despite not being any sort of Star Wars fan, just because Oscar Isaac was in it. I don’t think I’d see a Star War for him anymore, but I still keep an eye out for new projects with him (looking forward to del Toro’s Frankenstein). When I got my license, I burned a bunch of the movie’s songs to a CD and played it all the time while driving around in my car. Remember CDs? Burning CDs? Cars with CD players? Yeah, those were the days.
So, since I still consider it to be one of my favorite movies, I decided it was about time to give it a rewatch. I believe I’d rewatched it once before, whenever I’d bought the Criterion release, but it has still been a while. I was wondering if it’d still be as powerful to me as it was the first time I saw it.
Plot? You Want a Plot?
So, I think what’s a little difficult about Inside Llewyn Davis is that it doesn’t have much of a plot, but it’s also not a “nothing happens” movie. So many things keep happening to Llewyn. But it’s more of a series of vignettes than a cohesive narrative arc. If you aren’t clicking with Llewyn as a character on some level, it’s probably going to lose you fast.
And for what it’s worth, I totally get not clicking with Llewyn. In many ways, he fits that asshole man archetype that movies frequently like to claim are the most interesting people to exist in the world. If you’re not down for that, then you’re not down for that, more power to you. And, even if you are willing, for a movie called Inside Llewyn Davis, the character Llewyn Davis spends a lot of time doing his best not to let anyone see what lies inside him, ever.
Every time Llewyn makes a decision in this movie, it’s always the wrong one. But it’s always the one he thinks is necessary at the time, only to find out later that its dug him further into a hole. Almost every misfortune he finds himself in is of his own making, but he lacks crucial information every time too. He’s spiraling, and once you’re spiraling, it’s impossible to stop. It’s devastating but also somehow hypnotic to watch a man destroy himself, one step down into hell at a time.
Basically, the movie is a bummer. A really good bummer with some good folk music.
Fare Thee Well
What’s hidden between the lines of everything happening to Llewyn is the loss of his old partner, an event that happened at an unspecified amount of time before the movie begins. Nobody thinks he can make it as a solo artist. Honestly, not even Llewyn believes really, partly because he never reckons with Mike’s death. Instead, he blows up at friends, avoids the topic. He only once mentions that the cause of death was suicide, to someone with no sympathy for that whatsoever. Mike’s gone, Llewyn wishes he could join him, the world itself seems to think Llewyn should join him – but he finds himself still living.
The scene where Llewyn plays The Death of Queen Jane to Bud Grossman really stood out to me on this watch. The ultimate advice that Grossman leaves him with is to go back to his old partner. All Llewyn says is: “that’s good advice.”
Watching again, I really felt the weight of grief hanging over all of Llewyn’s actions and all his songs. At the end, when he finally sings one of their songs on his own, it feels like a true goodbye – to his partner, to his career, to his last effort towards fixing his life. Bob Dylan performing right afterwards as Llewyn is beat up in an alley is just the last coup de grace.
Second One Down
This was a really rewarding rewatch. So, that’s two winners in a row now! I’m really glad I decided to take on this little endeavor.
I’m currently in the middle of rewatching the original anime Granbelm, so I think that’ll be the next one up. Look forward to it!