Inside "Inside Llewyn Davis"

Context

The story is set in 1961 Greenwich Village, and captures a week in the life of struggling folk artist, Llewyn Davis (Oscar Isaac). Llewyn navigates a strange time in the world of folk music, between the boom of early folk and the discovery of Bob Dylan, who brought in new folk. On top of this, Llewyn is coping with his old singing partner’s death suicide and his new status as a solo act. While it seems like a simple, drop in time film, Inside Llewyn Davis has many elements that elevate it to one of the few movies I have given five stars.

Cinematography

The cinematography of Inside Llewyn Davis gives a sulky, depressing tone. The colors are mostly blue and neutral, with the exception of one scene that features a loud green public bathroom. The color emphasizes the dreariness of the city during the winter, and the dreariness of Llewyn’s life during that week.

There is a quote from another movie, Boogie Nights, that I believe pairs well with the cinematography of Inside Llewyn Davis: “There’s shadows in life, baby.” This quote is

important to analyzing the cinematography of Inside Llewyn Davis because of how lighting

was used on set. Bruno Delbonnel, cinematographer, kept the fill lights to a minimum. He kept the shadows in scenes because there are, infact, shadows in life. It highlights the

realism in Inside Llewyn Davis and subconsciously brings the audience in, and connects them emotionally to Llewyn. This is especially obvious when Llewyn is auditioning for Bud Grossman ( F. Murray Abraham) in Chicago. Shadows are cast into the dim Gate of Horn venue, hanging across Llewyn’s face, body, and guitar, even though he is the subject of the shot.

Ulysses, The Cat

The house cat, Ulysses, and the stray cat, in Inside Llewyn Davis serve as a constant metaphor. Llewyn is homeless, and runs through a rotation of friends and family to couch-surf. The Gorfeins are a kind, fairly wealthy couple who take Llewyn in when he has run through all other results. On the first morning of the film, Llewyn wakes to their cat sitting on his chest. Unfortunately, as he is leaving the Gorfeins’ apartment, the cat escapes. Llewyn is locked out of the Gorfeins’ apartment, so he leaves the cat at another friend’s apartment, where, inevitably, the cat later escapes out of the window and down the fire escape. There is a constant back and forth of Llewyn finding the cat and losing it. He finds what he thought to be the Gorfeins’ cat, only for Mrs. Gorfein (Robin Bartlett) to reveal the cat Llewyn had returned was not their cat. Llewyn takes the stray cat with him on a roadtrip to Chicago to meet with Bud Grossman and hopefully gain management and a gig.

Around two hours away from Chicago, Llewyn is forced to abandon the cat when he has to hitchhike the rest of the way, after the driver, Johnny Five (Garrett Hedlund), was wrongfully arrested with the keys in his pocket. On Llewyn’s way back from Chicago, he hits an animal that the scene suggests was a cat. When Llewyn returns to New York, he drunkenly revisits the Gorfeins for dinner and apologizes to Mrs. Gorfein. As he steps into the apartment, Llewyn notices the Gorgeins’ cat, who supposedly made it home on his own. At this time, Mrs. Gorfein reveals the cat’s name is Ulysses. Llewyn’s last encounter with the cat is when he wakes up again in the Gorfeins’ apartment, in a scene extremely similar to the beginning of the movie. Ulysses and the stray cat can be symbols for two different ideas.

First, the cat can represent Llewyn. After the cat gets out, Llewyn uses a payphone to call Mr. Gorfein (Ethan Phillips) and is redirected to his secretary. Llewyn asks the secretary to take a message that “Llewyn has the cat,” and in a misunderstanding, she repeats back “Llewyn is the cat?” Much like the cat, Llewyn is homeless and moving from place to place. He is lost, and constantly trying to find home. Ulysses is the Roman name for Odysseus, the hero of the Odyssey. In the Odyssey, Ulysses spends ten years trying to find his way home after the Trojan war.

The cat could also represent Llewyn’s late singing partner, Mikey, and even the possibility that Mikey was a romantic interest. When Llewyn is in the car on the way to meet Bud Grossman in Chicago, Roland Turner (John Goodman) makes a comment about Llewyn and his cat that stands out: “Folk singer with a cat. You queer?” Llewyn stutters a moment, and avoids the question. By avoiding the question, we can wonder if Llewyn is bisexual, and what his relationship with Mikey may have been. Llewyn carries the cat around with him everywhere he goes, symbolizing the grief he carries for Mikey. When Llewyn has to leave the cat behind in the car to get to Bud Grossman, this is the first instance of Llewyn branching out from his past with Mikey and letting go. At the end of the film, when it seems like Llewyn has returned to his habits from the beginning, Ulysses/Mikey is close and dependent on Llewyn again, and vice versa.

Structure

Inside Llewyn Davis mimics the structure of a folk song. A folk song begins with the opening to a story, goes through the events of the story, then circles right back to the beginning of the song. Inside Llewyn Davis begins with Llewyn performing Hang Me, Oh Hang Me for a crowd in the Gaslight Cafe, then getting beat up by a stranger in the alleyway outside. The movie ends in a very similar way, with Llewyn performing Hang Me, Oh Hang Me, and then Fare Thee Well. As Llewyn is walking out, an undiscovered Bob Dylan begins his set. Llewyn continues to get beaten up by the same stranger for the same reason after performing, and limps to the street to give a final “au revoir” to the stranger. This is how the film ends.

Llewyn is caught in a cycle of failing, over and over again, due to his volatile nature and internal struggle. Jean (Carey Mulligan), a close friend of his and potentially past love interest, is angry at Llewyn for never trying to make a change in his life to become successful and move off of other people’s couches. The cyclical structure of the film suggests Llewyn is going to continue his lifestyle, and maybe never become a successful folk artist. Slight differences in the end of the film also suggest this, such as the emergence of Bob Dylan and new folk. Llewyn is stubborn, and unwilling to change his old folk music style, while Bob Dylan is bringing in the new era. He is highly judgemental of new folk, also as seen in the Dear Mr. Kennedy recording session, when he knocks the lyrics and the song’s potential to give him any sort of money from royalties. In the end, Llewyn saying goodbye to the stranger could either suggest a goodbye to the old folk era, or a goodbye to Llewyn’s potential to be discovered and successful.

Final Thoughts

Inside Llewyn Davis earned its five star status from basically the beginning of the movie. If I get some sort of gut feeling that a movie is going to be great from the first two minutes, it will almost always be a five star movie in my book. Other movies I have given five stars to are Spirited Away, Roma, Little Miss Sunshine, and Singin’ In The Rain.

There are many things that stand out about Inside Llewyn Davis, but the music is what stands out most. First, every single song in the movie is performed live, from start to finish. The songs are always whole. A few giants in the modern music industry, and folk music industry, pitched in to help the music aspect of the movie. Some of them are T-Bone Burnett, Justin Timberlake (who also plays John, Jean’s husband and the writer of Dear Mr. Kennedy), and Marcus Mumford from Mumford and Sons. Joan Baez, Lake Street Dive, and the Milk Carton Kids also make an appearance on the soundtrack. The Coen brothers were present for every step in the music process, involved but not over involved. When it came to casting, Oscar Isaac fell into their lap like a gift from the universe. They had been searching for an actor who embodied Llewyn, could play guitar and sing, and could also, obviously, act. Oscar Isaac had played around with guitar for twenty years before Inside Llewyn Davis, and really only sat down and learned how to play well seven months before filming. His and Carrey Mulligan's voices stood out most to me.

As a guitar player, lover of folk music, and lover of drop-in-time movies, Inside Llewyn Davis really struck a chord with me, pun intended. Its gorgeous cinematography, deep symbolism, and intelligent structure bring it to be a five star movie I would recommend to anyone, and will sit with me for a long time.