Another reason Inside Llewyn Davis came to mind besides some similarities in music is that it does involve a hero's journey of sorts (if you relax the terms...). The main character, Llewyn, starts off with a really depressing but kind of boring life -- he has no money, he's sleeping on couches, he lost someone's cat (named Ulysses!) and has to pay for another girl's abortion. He is also just overall a bit unlikable/annoying, like Odysseus and Everitt to a lesser extent. He has a sort of musician's pride -- belief that he's good -- but he also can be kind of a dick to people (see: the girl he knocked up). He eventually decides he wants to audition for some guy in Chicago and gets a ride there (from New York). This is the kind of big journey, where he has adventures and stuff (there's also a loose connection to O Brother Where Art Thou in that John Goodman is also in this movie and here he's a slightly less shady character but similarly negative).
The movie starts to diverge from the typical hero's journey here in that everything goes wrong -- Llewyn abandons John Goodman and his ride, gets turned down at the audition (and then reminded of his dead friend), hits a cat on the way home, etc. There's a point here where he could turn around -- he drives past Akron, Ohio, where he was told a girl who he thought had had an abortion but didn't lives (terrible sentence, sorry), and he seems to contemplate getting off at the exit but ultimately drives on. Later he tries to join the merchant marine union but can't find his papers so is denied -- both of these are points where he could turn his life around or at least change it but he's ultimately unable. One thing I really liked about the movie is it just ends where it began & it makes it seem like ultimately, Llewyn accomplished nothing, despite the hints of some great journey earlier in the film -- a twist on the typical journey.
This seems like an interesting movie. The guy has the typical hero's pride and the need for the kindness of others to get where he wants to, but in the end is back where he started. I guess in some sense it's like what the journey of a hero would be like without any divine intervention. Odysseus (arguably) wouldn't have been able to get back to Ithaca as soon(ish) as he did without Athena's help.
ReplyDeleteI was really anticipating watching Llewyn Davis, especially because I knew the soundtrack would be good. While the soundtrack was good, I was very disappointed in the movie itself. This may be because i really really wanted things to go well for Llewyn, because he was the main character or something, I'm not really sure. I really didn't like the fact that it ended how it started. I felt like I watched the whole thing for nothing to some extent. I'm pretty sure I fell asleep around the time John Goodman picks him up, and woke up around the time he gets to the recording studio, but the fact that Llewyn fails at what he does just makes me upset. Especially since there is that one guy who is boring and sings but ends up getting the record deal (or something? I saw the movie awhile ago).
ReplyDeleteI watched part of this movie, decided the tone was too depressing, turned it off, then watched the rest like 2 weeks later. Though I still think the movie as a whole was kind of slow, not much excitement, I did really appreciate the fact that it had that twist. Everyone expects *something* to come out of a movie like that, with the aspiring music star thing going on, but you're right, in the end nothing really improved. But I thought it was actually super realistic and a nice change since a lot of stuff just throws in a happy ending to make the movie worth watching. The reality is that an insane majority of people fail in the music business, so it really gave Llewyn's story some serious legitimacy in my mind. But if we're trying to fit it into a category of heroism, I'm thinking that would be pretty hard to do.
ReplyDeleteThis film seems quite interesting since, as will the Odyssey and the Coen Brother's film, a prideful yet unlucky hero is encountered attempting to change his life for the better, yet in this case, he has no outside help (such as the help that Odysseus receives from Athena), and thus he is at the mercy out exterior elements. In a way, it has a similar start to the Odyssey in that the hero starts in an unfavorable position, yet his life worsens.
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