“BEFORE DYLAN... THERE WAS DAVIS”

By Raymond Benson

The first Coen Brothers feature to be given the “Criterion treatment” is, oddly, their most recent release—Inside Llewyn Davis, which received (mostly) critical praise upon its release in late 2013. Kudos were especially heaped upon the film’s relatively new star, Oscar Isaac. Sadly, while the picture recouped its investment and made a little money, it wasn’t as widely embraced by audiences as it should have been. This is probably because the Coen Brothers typically don’t make movies for the masses. The auteur siblings create art that appeals mostly to intelligent, hip audiences willing to enter a strange, sometimes disturbing, always surprising, universe that is distinctly Coen-land.

Inside Llewyn Davis is presented as a comedy, but in the Coen Brothers’ oeuvre, “comedy” can mean many things. It can be wild and wacky (Raising Arizona, The Big Lebowski) or it can be dark and foreboding (Barton Fink, A Serious Man). Llewyn Davis leans more toward the latter. In fact, it is a downright melancholy picture that will leave in a funk any viewers who happen to be musicians. But that doesn’t mean the film’s not funny, too.

Llewyn Davis (Isaac, in a brilliant performance worthy of an Oscar nomination he didn’t get) is a down on his luck but talented folk singer in 1961 Greenwich Village. The setting is pretty much a character, too, for this was the hotbed of the folk scene prior to the arrival of Bob Dylan, who changed everything. The Coens and Isaac based the Davis character on the very real folk musician Dave Van Ronk—but really only his musical material (adapted by musical producer T Bone Burnett). While Davis is on stage, he is magic. The songs are heartbreakingly beautiful. Off stage, though, unlike Van Ronk, Davis is a mess. He’s cranky, cynical, and not a very nice guy. He’s losing what friends he has and he’s his own worst enemy. The movie becomes his journey through a bleak New York winter as he tries to eke out a living, take care of a neighbor’s cat, and bring some sort of sense to the madness that is his life. Even though he’s a trainwreck happening before our eyes, poor Davis doesn’t realize he’s doomed until, at the end of the movie, he hits a career-ending brick wall in the form of a certain person.

And like most everything the Coen Brothers create, this revelation is exhibited brilliantly.

Like the Coens’ other musical feature, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, this one explores a very specific music steeped in Americana, and the movie is full of it. Justin Timberlake plays a supporting role as another folkie, along with lovely Carey Mulligan. Much of the material consists of wistful folk ballads, but the trio of Isaac, Timberlake, and Adam Driver perform a song called “Please Mr. Kennedy” that is a laugh riot—the funniest bit in the film—and why it wasn’t nominated for Best Song for that year’s Oscars is a mystery.

The Criterion Collection’s new special edition release of the film is very unique in how much the Coen Brothers participated in the supplements, of which there are an abundance. The brothers are usually unwilling to do interviews or support “making of” documentaries. This time, however, they did a lot, the least of which was approving the 4K digital transfer, which looks gorgeous. Director of photography Bruno Delbonnel chose to shoot the picture with a soft focus and muted colors that somehow evokes the black and white feel of the era. It works beautifully to amplify the melancholy. The feature has a 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack, plus an audio commentary by authors Robert Christgau, David Hajdu, and Sean Wilentz.

The running time of the supplements are more than three times as long as the feature film. “Inside Inside Llewyn Davis” is a forty-three minute documentary on the making of the film, revealing the Coen Brothers at work, especially in the casting and working with Burnett on the music adaptation. Additionally, the disk includes a long, fascinating interview with the brothers conducted by Guillermo del Toro; a conversation between Burnett and the Coens about folk music; a new piece about the Greenwich Village folk scene of the era featuring Van Ronk’s co-biographer, Elijah Wald; a short documentary by Dan Drasin about the 1961 clash between folk musicians and police in Washington Square Park; trailers; and, finally, the awesome full-length feature (originally aired on Showtime), Another Day, Another Time—a documentary by Christopher Wilcha that covered the special concert of folk music held at New York’s Town Hall in September 2013. Oscar Isaac performs along with the likes of the Punch Brothers, Joan Baez, Marcus Mumford, Jack White, Gillian Welch, Lake Street Dive, and many others. It’s worth the price of the disk. The booklet contains an essay by film critic Kent Jones and a poster illustration of Isaac as Llewyn Davis.

If you missed Inside Llewyn Davis during its theatrical run, here’s your chance to explore the film in depth. As with any Coen Brothers effort, it is a rewarding experience. Time will prove it to be one of their better ones.

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