Inside Llewyn Davis

The movie opens with Llewyn Davis singing soulfully into a mike.  Melodramatically, he closes his eyes and nods his head.  He's feeling it, and the audience in the cafe he's serenading does too.  At least until someone asks him outside and beats him up, allegedly for something he said the night before.  It feels like the movie should be called "Folk Jesus."

But then you see that no one is asking Llewyn to be a martyr.  He turns up his nose at commercial material, like a jingle called "Please Mr. Kennedy" that he serves as a session musician on.  He refuses an opportunity to be part of a trio; tellingly, he says he doesn't do harmonies.  His ex-girlfriend is none too pleased with him because he may have knocked her up.  He has no plans, no organization, no discipline.

Still, the world does him no favors.  His label insists there are no royalties from his record.  His songwriting partner killed himself.  Another ex-girlfriend had his child without telling him.  It's hard to draw the line between Davis' bad decisions and bad luck.

All this would make for a nice little (bleak) character study.  But "Davis" is more than that.  It's also a journey of sorts.  There's a cat that pops up several times named Ulysses.  Of course, "Ulysses" was based loosely on the "Odyssey."  Also based on the "Odyssey" was another Coen brothers film, "O Brother, Where Art Thou?"  And this movie has a similar feel to "O Brother," with colorful characters popping up all over as our "hero" drifts along.  There's a shit-talking jazz singer played by John Goodman, a cheery Army private who serves as Davis' antithesis, a foulmouthed bar owner, and more.  These characters all stay long enough to make an impression without wearing out their welcome.

The other Coen brothers movie "Davis" calls to mind is "A Very Serious Man," since both feature heroes who seem to have nothing but terrible luck.  But while the latter film seemed to be a seriocomic lament at the cruelty of the universe, "Davis" feels almost like a plea of thanks.  It's the path the Coens could have found themselves on, if one of them had lost their partner, as Davis does, or if they weren't discovered, as Davis clearly won't be.  A Bob Dylan song plays over the closing credits.  This movie shows how aware the Coens are that for every Dylan, there are many more like Davis.