Everybody is pretty much over and done with this Oscar-ignored Coen Brothers film, so what better time than now to force you to read about it? I mean, what could be better than reading a mixed review of a film that has technically been in theaters for two months and nobody cares about anymore?
What Works: By now, giving the Coen Brothers credit for making a “distinct, uncompromising” film doesn’t really fly since they’ve been making them with regularity for two decades. I will say that this is the first Hollywood/showbiz/music-biz type film I can remember where the protagonist doesn’t make it and there is a strong originality and realism in that. Does that necessarily make for a satisfying film? Well not really, but respect must be paid. The music is also very good, and don’t be surprised if some of the songs stay with for days.
Still, the thing that really keeps you drawn to Llewyn’s plight is the actor playing him, Oscar Isaacs, who’s like New Girl’s Jake Johannsen if he had bi-polar disorder. [John Goodman also acquits himself nicely in a very strange cameo.] Isaacs’ struggles with trying to break through feel like an intense psychological struggle as much as the world conspiring against him…
What Doesn’t:…The Coen Brothers have got to, got to let go of this Old Testament, self-righteousness that keeps tripping up their own narrative. They seem to get a kick out of punishing their characters, and sometimes for the smallest of infractions (think the poor bastards in “Barton Fink” and “A Simple Man”). This is the umpteenth Coen film that tries to stretch seemingly random events into a near-Biblical quest, and it’s beginning to look a little like phoning it in. The symbolism in this film is both obvious and vague: for example, we’re very aware that that damn orange cat and the bizarre road trip with Goodman are symbolizing something, but it’s open to interpretation what that something is. And if you’re taken out of the film by such heavy-handed detours then the riddles are less intriguing than frustrating.
What I Would Have Done Differently: There’s no way to “correct” a Coen Brothers film than to simply acknowledge that their pattern (a loser-schmuck hero who gets told off, abused, and a royal comeuppance) is beginning to get old.