Inside Llewyn Davis

Bob Dylan wrote about the times that were changing in his book ‘Chronicles’ (2004). He sits in a Greenwich Village apartment staring out the window and he ponders on the nature of that change. He might well have seen Llewyn Davis walking down Bleecker Street, guitar case in his hand, heading for a coffee shop basement.

The year is 1961 and it is a significant period of time when singers and song writers were learning their craft by singing in basket houses – where a basket was handed round for donations from the audience. This is the backdrop to a fictional story that starts with a violent incident that we don’t realise is unfolding in the past to explain the beginning at the end. Getting inside Llewyn Davis is a challenge because we don’t really get to see a depth of his character other than a desire for destiny to give him a break. A mediocre contemporary singer whose previous partner is no longer with us, he is not willing to join up with another partner or combination of singers.

Davis’s life seems to be in so many places because he has no permanent home, like a rolling stone. And that is the zeitgeist of the times – a man in a search for something and living for the moment. Very few of the characters, if any, including Davis endear themselves to us. Each one either successfully able to live for the moment, or react angrily because of change forced upon them.

There is an escaping cat (Ulysses) whose odyssey not only helps to create a vehicle for the story but his re-appearance as the wrong cat half way through the film gives us an inkling to the journey of Davis. There are times when he might be the wrong man in the wrong place. Whether he will ever become he right man in the right place is not the objective of the film.

‘Down in the Village nothing seemed wrong. Life was not complex. Everybody was looking for openings. Some would get ‘em and then they’d be gone and others never did. Mine was coming but not just yet.’ (Dylan, Chronicles, 2004)

Anyone who was growing up in this period, particularly in London, will have some attachment to this film. Walking down Greek Street in a donkey jacket, diving down the steps into Les Cousins for the all nighter, shelling out a few shillings for the entrance, sitting in a warm and friendly environment and listening to established and wannabee singers with their acoustic guitars. Journeying on our own odyssey as we try and discover ourselves.

For this reason, the story will not resonate with everyone. For all that, the Coen Brothers should be applauded for a well observed period in time.