Inside Llewyn Davis

Director: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen Joel Coen, Ethan Coen,

Overview

Idealistic young folk singer Llewyn Davis (Oscar Isaac) struggles to make a name for himself in the Greenwich Village folk scene of the early 1960s in this fictional period drama from Joel and Ethan Coen. As the harsh winds of winter blow through the streets of New York City, the homeless singer/songwriter drifts from couch to couch in search of his big break. Feeling that he's finally burned his bridge with longtime friends and fellow folk singers Jim (Justin Timberlake) and Jean (Carey Mulligan), and convinced that his recent work on a novelty song will lead him nowhere, Llewyn hitches a ride to Chicago with the mysterious Roland Turner (John Goodman) and his taciturn valet Johnny Five (Garrett Hedlund) on a mission to audition for famed impresario Bud Grossman (F. Murray Abraham). Meanwhile, Llewyn discovers that he himself may be the biggest obstacle on his arduous road to success.

Product Details

Release Date:	01/19/2016
UPC:	0715515165310
Original Release:	2013
Source:	Criterion Collection
Region Code:	A
Presentation:	[Wide Screen, Color]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround]
Time:	1:44:00
Sales rank:	3,694

Special Features

New audio commentary featuring authors Robert Christgau, David Hajdu, and Sean Wilentz New conversation between filmmaker Guillermo del Toro and the Coen brothers about the evolution of their approach Inside "Inside Llewyn Davis" (2013), a forty-three-minute documentary Another Day, Another Time (2013), a 101- minute film documenting an Inside Llewyn Davis tribute concert, featuring Joan Baez, Marcus Mumford, Punch Brothers, Gillian Welch, Jack White, and others New conversation between music producer T Bone Burnett and the Coens about folk music, with illustrations by Drew Christie New piece about the early sixties Greenwich Village folk scene, featuring music writer and historian Elijah Wald Sunday, a short film by Dan Drasin documenting a 1961 clash between folk musicians and police in Washington Square Park Trailers

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Oscar Isaac	Llewyn Davis
Carey Mulligan	Jean Berkey
Justin Timberlake	Jim Berkey
Garrett Hedlund	Johnny Five
F. Murray Abraham	Bud Grossman
John Goodman	Roland Turner
Jeanine Serralles	Joy
Ethan Phillips	Mitch Gorfein
Robin Bartlett	Lillian Gorfein
Max Casella	Pappi Corsicato
Jerry Grayson	Mel Novikoff
Adam Driver	Al Cody
Stark Sands	Troy Nelson
Alex Karpovsky	Marty Green
Helen Hong	Janet Fung
Bradley Mott	Joe Flom
Michael Rosner	Arlen Gamble
Bonnie Rose	Dodi Gamble
Jack A. O'Connell	Elevator Attendant
Ricardo Cordero	Nunzio
Sylvia Kauders	Ginny
Ian Jarvis	Cromartie
Diane Findlay	Receptionist
Ian Blackman	Studio Man
Steve Routman	Abortion Doctor
Susan Blommaert	Nurse
Amelia McClain	Oasis Waitress
James Colby	Cop On Road
Charlotte Booker	Chicago Waitress
Mike Houston	Train Station Cop
Sam Haft	Man in Gate of Horn
Jason Shelton	Youth in Car
Frank Ridley	Union Hall Man 1
John Ahlin	Union Hall Man 2
Jake Ryan	Danny
Declan Bennett	Irish Singer
Erik Hayden	Additional Irish Singer
Daniel Everidge	Additional Irish Singer
Jeff Takacs	Additional Irish Singer
Nancy Blake	Elizabeth Hobby
Stephen Payne	Mr. Hobby
Roberto Lopez	Bouncer
Benjamin Pike	Young Bob

Technical Credits

Joel Coen

Ethan Coen

Joel Coen	Director,Producer,Screenwriter
Ethan Coen	Director,Producer,Screenwriter
Nancy Capper	Costumes/Costume Designer
Ellen Chenoweth	Casting
Olivier Courson	Executive Producer
Bruno Delbonnel	Camera Operator,Cinematographer
Catherine Farrell	Associate Producer
Jess Gonchor	Production Designer
Robert Graf	Executive Producer
Ron Halpern	Executive Producer
Drew Houpt	Associate Producer
Roderick Jaynes	Editor
Deborah Jensen	Art Director
Steve Kirshoff	Special Effects Supervisor
Peter Kurland	Sound Mixer
Betsy Magruder	Asst. Director
Scott Rudin	Producer
Mary Zophres	Costumes/Costume Designer

Editorial Reviews

The Coen brothers' Oscar triumph No Country for Old Men was, in many ways, a revisiting of Fargo that purposefully left out the humanity embodied by Marge's final speech to the killer. If the Coens are now at a stage where they are revisiting their old material in order to express a darker sensibility, it's tempting to think of Inside Llewyn Davis as their update of the already bleak Barton Fink -- an exploration of an artist deluding himself into thinking he's a better person than he is. Oscar Isaac stars as the title character, a talented folk singer and guitarist whose career has grown stagnant after his former performing partner committed suicide. The prickly Llewyn crashes with various friends on different nights, struggles to get paying gigs, and deals with the news that he's impregnated a female friend (Carey Mulligan) who is involved with another man. After landing some quick cash by doing a recording session, Llewyn takes a road trip to Chicago in the hope of winning over a music impresario (F. Murray Abraham) who might be able to give him his big break (or at least a little more money). As always with Joel and Ethan, the movie works well as a dark comedy. As the universe conspires to make Davis miserable, we're encouraged to laugh because he does so little to alleviate that condition. He's unlikable, but in a different way than Barton Fink turned out to be unlikable. Barton revealed himself to be a poseur who only had one good idea, whereas Llewyn doesn't even sing his own words but just interprets the works of others. He simply doesn't have anything to say, and that may be the biggest reason why the Coens leave him to a cruel fate. Isaac, given so little to make his character sympathetic, delivers a performance that humanizes Llewyn in ways the script doesn't make obvious. Sure, he uses people and he's a congenital screwup, but he's also trying to get his life together to the best of his ability -- it's just that his skill in this regard is pointedly lacking. While it's certainly an emotionally downbeat film, Inside Llewyn Davis is often terrifically funny. Mulligan has a series of foulmouthed diatribes aimed at Llewyn that give the movie a hard comedic edge, Coen regular John Goodman turns in a memorable cameo as a voodoo-practicing jazz performer during the road trip to the Midwest, and the song Davis records in the studio -- "Please Mr. Kennedy" -- is a pitch-perfect homage to the tunes of the time period. For that matter, all of the music finds a balance between sounding authentic and being lyrically witty. Joel and Ethan certainly sweeten the bitter pill they want you to swallow. As they've evolved as filmmakers and writers, the Coens' worldview -- never all that rosy to begin with -- has grown more pessimistic and melancholy. After the despairing three-movie run of No Country for Old Men, Burn After Reading, and A Serious Man, it appeared as if they had lost any hope for humanity. They seemed to be finding a new course with True Grit, their biggest box-office success, but with its disquieting finale and clear-eyed appraisal of human failing and weakness, Inside Llewyn Davis feels much more like their genuine follow-up to A Serious Man.

All Movie Guide - Perry Seibert