The Coen Brothers’ latest film, “Inside Llewyn Davis” is enjoyable and fantastic! It’s a much different style of film that the Coen’s are usually known for but they manage to showcase great music and also capturing an era during the emergence of folk music in Greenwich Village in 1961. Recommended!
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DVD TITLE: Inside Llewyn Davis
DATE OF FILM RELEASE: 2012
DURATION: 104 Minutes
DVD INFORMATION: 1:85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen, English 5.1 Dolby Digital, Subtitles: English, English SDH, Spanish
COMPANY: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
RATED: R (Language including some sexual references)
RELEASE DATE: March 11, 2014
Written and Directed by Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
Produced by Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, Scott Rudin
Executive Producer: Olivier Courson, Robert Graf, Ron Halpern
Associate Producer: Catherine Farrell, Drew P. Houpt
Cinematography by Bruno Delbonnel
Edited by Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
Casting by Ellen Chenoweth
Production Design by Jess Gonchor
Art Direction by Deborah Jensen
Set Decoration by Susan Bode
Starring:
Oscar Isaac as Llewyn Davis
Carey Mulligan as Jean
Justin Timberlake as Jim
Ethan Phillips as Mitch Gorfein
Robin Bartlett as Lilian Gorfein
Max Casella as Pappi Corsicato
Jerry Grason as Mel Novikoff
Jeanine Serralles as Joy
Adam Driver as Al Cody
Stark Sands as Troy Nelson
John Goodman as Roland Turner
Garrett Hedlund as Johnny Five
Alex Karpovsky as Marty Green
Helen Hong as Janet Fung
Inside Llewyn Davis follows a week in the life of a young folk singer as he navigates the Greenwich Village folk scene of 1961. Guitar in tow, huddled against the unforgiving New York winter, he is struggling to make it as a musician against seemingly insurmountable obstacles—some of them of his own making.
From Ethan and Joel Coen (“No Country for Old Men”, “Fargo”, “The Big Lebowski”) comes an American comedy/drama film titled “Inside Llewyn Davis”.
Starring Oscar Isaac (“Drive”, “Sucker Punch”, “Robin Hood”), Carey Mulligan (“Drive”, “Never Let Me Go”, “An Education”), Justin Timberlake (“Bad Teacher”, “Friends with Benefits”, “The Social Network”), Ethan Phillips (“Star Trek: Voyager”, “The Island”), Robin Bartlett (“Shutter Island”, “City of Angels”, “Dangerous Minds”) and Max Casella (“Doogie Howser, M.D.”, “Ed Wood”), “Inside Llewyn Davis” would win the 2013 Grand Prix at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival and would receive critical acclaim worldwide.
The film is set in 1961 and struggling folk singer Llewyn Davis (portrayed by Oscar Isaac) is trying to survive in New York City’s Greenwich Village.
After his musical partner Mike Timlin commits suicide, Llewyn Davis is trying to survive by staying with friends and family due to his latest solo album not selling.
After his performance at the Gaslight Cafe, Llewyn goes outside and is beaten up by a man for heckling. Llewyn stays with the Gorfeins but when he leaves, he loses their cat and goes after it. Llewyn ends up taking the cat to his other friends, Jim (portrayed by Justin Timberlake) and Jean (portrayed by Carey Mulligan). But Jean is not so happy to see Llewyn, because she is pregnant and fears that it may be Llewyn’s baby and wants him to pay for the abortion.
But as he stays with another group of friends, he once again loses the Gorfeins cat.
Needing to make money to survive and pay for an abortion, Llewyn must do all he can to make money. But how will life continue for the next few days for Llewyn Davis?
VIDEO & AUDIO:
“Inside Llewyn Davis” is a film presented in 1:85:1 anamorphic widescreen and a soundtrack presented English 5.1 Dolby Digital with English, English SDH subtitles.
It’s important to note that if you want the best picture and audio quality, you will want to opt for the Blu-ray release of this film. But on DVD, picture quality for the film is great! The Coen Brothers and staff managed to create an era of old Greenwich Village 1961 and while you the overall aesthetic feel of the film, you are also treated with magnificent music.
As the picture does look as best as it can on DVD, the dialogue and music sounds great via the center and front channels.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“Inside Llewyn Davis” comes with the following special feature:
- Inside “Inside Llewyn Davis” – (42:42) The behind-the-scenes making of the film.
In the United States, all over the country, there are stories of locations where many artists are derived from.
But in the 1960′s, there were musicians who wanted to create music unlike contemporary music, music that was created to make a difference. These musicians lived in Greenwich Village.
For those not familiar with the village, the area is a residential neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City known for its art and culture, the Village was the first to have a racially integrated night club in the late 30′s, in the 50′s, it was the location for the bohemian scene and attracting writers, poets, artists and Beatniks. And in the 1960′s, the Village was known for its music scene, especially the development of folk music.
It was an area that brought The Mamas & the Papas together, it was an area that Bob Dylan came from, an area which influenced Peter, Paul and Mary (Peter Yarrow, Paul Stookey and Mary Travers) but also notable talents such as Pete Seeger, Kris Kristofferson, Don McLean, Peter Yarrow, Arlo Guthrie, Lucy and Carly Simon, Tom Chapin, Judy Collins and more.
But for the Joel and Ethan Coen film “Inside Llewyn Davis”, this film is set in 1961 and before the time of counterculture.
And what the Coen’s masterfully done is recreate an era via Greenwich Village 1961, from its costume design, its music and making those who grew up around that time (especially those in Greenwich Village), feel the authenticity and create a film that integrates folk music and in someways, playing out almost like scenes from a folk song. But most of all capturing one of America’s greatest musical movements.
Actor Oscar Issac shines as Llewyn Davis. While some may see the actor as clean cut, in the film, he has the look of one from Greenwich Village from the unkempt hair, trimmed beard and if anything, resembling more of late ’60s Bob Dylan that the man that inspired the Coens to make the film, folk singer Dave Van Ronk (it’s important to note that the Coen’s only utilized parts of Van Ronk’s life featured in his memoir but created a character not really based on anyone).
But what Llewyn Davis represents is the one of many folk singers who had the talent but never reached stardom as his other contemporaries. A struggling musician that is trying to survive.
There is no true ending, no major climax but a week in the life of Llewyn Davis, a man who probably didn’t reach stardom because he has a temper, he is reckless, bitter and not a person you can trust. In fact, he’s not the most likable character but there is no denying that he is a man with talent.
And that is what the Coen’s did magnificently well was to make the music shine in this film. Oscar Issac can sing, as well as the others who joined him in the film such as singer/actor Justin Timberlake and even actress Carey Mulligan and Stark Sands sound wonderful in their performance of “Five Hundred Miles” or Timberlake, Issac and Adam Driver for “Please Mr. Kennedy”.
With an enjoyable music soundtrack, what best than to end the film with a Van Gronk track, “Green, Green Rocky Road”.
As for the DVD, picture quality is very good and if you want to enjoy this film in HD, definitely purchase the film on Blu-ray. But on DVD, dialogue and music is clear with the English 5.1 Dolby Digital soundtrack. And you get an enjoyable 42-minute “Inside ‘Inside Llewyn Davis;” behind-the-scenes on the making of the film.
Overall, the Coen Brothers’ latest film, “Inside Llewyn Davis” is enjoyable and fantastic! It’s a much different style of film that the Coen’s are usually known for but they manage to showcase great music and also capturing an era during the emergence of folk music in Greenwich Village in 1961.
Recommended!
