dvd of the week
In the Coen brothers’ latest film, they focus on one of Greenwich Village’s folk musicians who failed. In the winter of 1961, Llewyn Davis (Oscar Isaac) is sleeping on the couches of the friends who aren’t angry with him, reeling from the suicide of his former singing partner and a furtive affair with his married friend Jean (Carey Mulligan). His solo album, titled Inside Llewyn Davis, is not selling at all, and his gigs aren’t paying. And then Jean tells Oscar that she’s pregnant and doesn’t know if it’s his or her husband Jim’s (Justin Timberlake), so she has to get an abortion. Oscar sets off to find the money for the procedure while also trying to get his career going, and this leads him to session work, wandering through the cold streets of Manhattan, and in a car on the way to snowy Chicago with hobbled, caustic jazz musician Roland Tuner (an amazing John Goodman) and his greaser valet Johnny Five (Garrett Hedlund). Throughout, Oscar carries, loses and chases an orange tabby cat. The Coens have said that the movie has no story and that’s why they added the cat. Still, it’s full of sublime acting and iconic bizarre Coen scenes that are at times hilarious and at times haunting.
