Review: Inside Llewyn Davis

Review: Inside Llewyn Davis

Directors: Joel and Ethan Coen

Cast: Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, John Goodman, Justin Timberlake

Running Time: 105 Minutes

The Coen brothers seem to delight in telling the tales of losers: take John Malkovich's befuddled character in Burn After Reading, or William H. Macy's dreadfully woeful Jerry in Fargo for just a couple of prime examples. Yet none of their protagonists have ever seemed so dismally lost or hopeless than Llewyn Davis, the sarcastic, couch-crashing, burdening yet musically sublime subject of the Coen brothers' latest cinematic offering.

Inside Llewyn Davis perhaps isn't the sort of movie you enjoy the first time you watch it. Our protagonist is a resentful and often hurtful individual who seems to subconsciously delight in burning every bridge he's ever built for himself, insulting those who offer him a helpful hand and resenting those who don't. Add to that the severe lack of character development or...well, plot, and this isn't exactly a story that has a light at the end of the narrative tunnel. Yet it's only when looked back upon and thought about that Inside Llewyn Davis becomes something of a storytelling master stroke - the sheer tragedy of Llewyn's inability to change his ways or swallow his pride becomes his story arc (alongside that of his quest to return a cat to its home), and his social ineptitude becomes a key asset to his frankly beautiful and heartbreaking song writing. 

It's in 1961 where we find Llewyn struggling to get his feet off the ground in New York. His solo record, the titular Inside Llewyn Davis, is failing to sell and his previous musical partner Mike has committed suicide. Despite having a regular gig at The Gaslight Cafe, Llewyn has no money and is constantly sleeping on the couches of "friends" - that is to say, anyone who doesn't hate him too much yet. Shamelessly taking money where he can get it with no thought for the future, Llewyn's predicaments are made even more troublesome with the news that his one-time lover and now barely tolerant friend Jean (an uncharacteristically furious Carey Mulligan) is pregnant - and the child may be his. 

There are various plot threads that spin-off in to the nether, such as Jean's boyfriend Jim (a quirky and enjoyable Justin Timberlake) recording a novelty song "Please Mr. Kennedy" with Llewyn, and a fruitless trip to Chicago aided not very helpfully by John Goodman's slimy and good-for-nothing jazz musician Roland Turner. Most of the story seems made to fill up the running time, such as the constant re-appearance of a lost cat, as well as the various supporting characters with bustling and unique personalities. Perhaps that's part of its charm though - the film is just sort of "there", much like Llewyn himself, constantly adrift yet still popping up into peoples' lives. 

The highlights are the musical numbers though, and there's a real sense of affection from the Coen brothers for the genre that they're shining the spotlight on. Most of the songs are played in full (and live, uncut) and Oscar Isaac, himself a talented musician, trickles Llewyn's heartfelt and sorrowful melodies out beautifully. It's only when compared with the soundtrack that the film really stands on two feet, as songs such as the wonderful opener "Hang Me, Oh Hang Me" and the heartbreaking "The Death of Queen Jane" show us how Llewyn's heart truly works, unable to vocalise his thoughts fluently (or very kindly) without a guitar in his hand. 

There's something very melancholic about Isaac's portrayal of Llewyn that makes him such a definitive Coen character - he's definitely not the easiest to like, but he's one of the most complex and therefore one of the best. It's with a heavy heart and a sigh that he drags that guitar around the city with him, but his infuriatingly self-destructive nature keeps us at arms length.

Unapologetically leaving us hanging, the only thing that nags about Inside Llewyn Davis is its severe lack of character development. No spoilers here, but the full circle nature of the plot leaves us wishing that there had been a light at the end of the tunnel for Llewyn.

Summary

Classic Coen material, Inside Llewyn Davis will surely grate on those looking for a structured story with a clear beginning, middle and end but for the musically inclined (and anyone who knows what it feels like to be a struggling musician), this is a brilliant portrayal of a man just trying to get his feet off the ground. Coupled with the soundtrack, Inside Llewyn Davis should have been a storytelling masterpiece - it's just a shame that it's hard to see it that way upon first viewing. Still what appears to be a genuine love for country music and some really good performances, particularly from the supremely talented Oscar Isaac, make the Coen Brothers' latest film one to watch during this year's Oscar season.

8/10 - Great

See it if you liked: Walk The Line (2005), Burn After Reading (2008), Crazy Heart (2009)

Review: Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit

Review: Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit

Director: Kenneth Branagh

Cast: Chris Pine, Keira Knightley, Kenneth Branagh, Kevin Costner

Running Time: 105 Minutes

Another day, another Hollywood reboot. This time our fresh helping of cinematic goodness is courtesy of Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, a revitalized origin story of the famous novelized Tom Clancy character.

Is it necessary? Of course not, but from a financial stand-point it makes sense. 2014 has a mysteriously James Bond-shaped hole in it, right next to the Bourne-shaped grave dug by the latter's most recent misfire. Jack Ryan manages to blend the two fairly well, but it never really seems to confidently find its own identity, instead throwing clichés and stolen styles into the mixing pot, making for a rather dull and lifeless result. 

A shame really, because the casting had such potential. Chris Pine, somehow the most likeable yet cocky actor on the planet, gives in a good turn as the titular CIA agent. Both a million miles away from his arrogant portrayal of Star Trek's Captain Kirk and yet handling the action scenes perfectly, Pine nails the inexperienced and out of his depth nature of the character whilst ensuring he never becomes whiny or a nervous wreck. Equally, the casting of Kevin Costner as Ryan's boss and mentor gives the film a little more dramatic weight and provides some surprisingly well-written excuses to have Ryan explain the plot in laymen's terms for the audience.

Sadly at the other end of the spectrum, we're given an annoyingly hammy and uncharacteristically pantomime performance from director Kenneth Branagh as the film's big bad (of course he's Russian because, well, aren't they all?) whose plot to collapse the American economy and cause the next big depression is about as flimsy as the USB stick the entire plan is held on. Last but not least, Keira Knightley rears her annoying head as Ryan's fiance in a tacked-on love story which was presumably shoved in to give the women something to enjoy while the men enjoy the action and the shooting and the racing and the fast, shiny motorbikes - an outdated and yet consistently used conception of modern cinema audiences that needs to be abandoned.

The best that can be said for Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit is that, depending on its box office success, it could pave the way for something bigger and better. It's a decent enough origin story and Ryan himself is an interesting character, with his reluctance and subsequent remorse over his first ever kill giving him some human believability - think of him as a mixture of Bond, Bourne and Batman - yet there's nothing to make him stand out from all the other CIA, vigilante or spy types that we've seen in other movies. His back story attempts to rectify this, giving him an injury from the war in Afghanistan which, while admirable, isn't exactly an original concept. John Watson much?

Those movies at least seem to have a better handle on their own plots - in Jack Ryan, Branagh's villain seems to be just generic cannon fodder for something bigger yet to be explained, while Knightley's love interest manages to be the most annoying and useless girlfriend on film.

Branagh, doubling up as director for this outing, seems to be using this as an audition to direct the next Bond movie. The action scenes are well handled, particularly the various car chases, however it's when it comes to hand to hand combat that Branagh unfortunately succumbs to the usual "let's make everything as shaky as possible" technique which becomes infuriating to watch after a few seconds. One moment, Ryan is on his feet and battling to stay that way, the next thing we know the camera's swung around a lot and someone's on the ground. For some cinema-goers, this works due to its fast and frantic pace but for this reviewer, an action movie is redundant if we can't actually witness the majority of the action.

Summary

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit acts as a decent enough origin story for the character of Ryan himself, played very well by the surprisingly amicable Chris Pine. However, the Clancy adaptation is let down by a cringe-worthy pantomime villain whose plan is frankly ridiculous and various other plot threads which seem to be thrown in as an afterthought such as Keira Knightley's poorly acted and badly developed love interest which could make watching paint dry seem an exciting alternative. Add to that some very poor directorial choices and we're left with a good protagonist surrounded by bad plotting, characterization and directing. A damn shame, because Pine has clearly thrown himself full force into the character - perhaps, if there's a round two, there should be a reshuffle behind the scenes to ensure that Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit was simply a wobbly start to something better.

4/10 - Disappointing

See it if you liked: The Bourne Legacy (2011), Skyfall (2012), Jack Reacher (2012)