Inside Llewyn Davis

At certain moments, the uncomfortably familiar feeling of being lost, weary, and lonely during the grayest American winter in many years. It could perhaps be argued that the muted colors go a little too far in the overall bleakness of the film, but to its credit it is constant in its mood throughout and doesn't really offer any way out that would otherwise kind of belie itself. A surreal journey of several days to Chicago, where time stretches out into a seemingly endless black mass from which there is no escape, as all around is a frost-covered wasteland bordered by cones of car lights, is the Coen brothers' darkest period. "I'm tired. I thought I just needed a night's sleep but it's more than that." (2018-04-09)

Llewyn and I missed each other - not completely, but we just walked along the same sidewalk, and he talked and sang and I understood him, in every ironic gloss of his miserable self-centered life. Finally, he stopped, disappeared into a side alley, and then cried out that he didn't give a damn, that it suited him and he'd stay stuck there while I went on. (2014-02-20)

A movie that, in my eyes, makes up for the fact that it talks about unpleasant life situations in an all-too-pleasant way. The steady pace of the episodic narrative is this time not disrupted (in a positive sense) by any exceptional supporting character or any charming filmmaking idea by which the Coens dissect the superficiality and get down to their typical atmospheric poeticism. Isaac is fine and the music is nice, though it will be appreciated mostly by folk enthusiasts older than 80 or so :) 70% (2017-02-06)

The saddest film by the Coen brothers with their unrivaled, least sympathetic protagonist. It sounds like a bittersweet folk hit about a guy who was out of it his entire life. You know exactly where the verse, the chorus and the specific rhyme belong. And that's the power of a simple song that crept under my skin like frost and the purring of a cat. Nothing profound, just a beautiful experience that needs no explanation / defense. [85%] (2014-02-13)

The Coen brothers in chill-out mode. This not very ambitious but pleasantly relaxing underground flick has no plot, but its atmosphere is excellent in places – especially during the brilliantly edited (including great work with sounds) car journey to Chicago, dominated by the film’s best character (played by John Goodman). As a whole, however, the film is unsatisfactory, it does not give the audience what it is waiting for. Factotum, also a story about an underdog/loser, was formally more conventional, but with more entertaining content. (2014-03-04)