794 Inside Llewyn Davis

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therewillbeblus
Joined: Tue Dec 22, 2015 3:40 pm

Re: 794 Inside Llewyn Davis

#226 Post by therewillbeblus » Sun Mar 15, 2020 11:13 pm

Revisiting this tonight I was struck by how even within this grand cyclically cosmic Sisyphus tale, the Coens provide striking attention to detail opportunities noticed, unnoticed, taken and lost. From introspection in looking at a movie poster about adventure or watching a taxi cab drive away to the look in a cat’s eyes or a road sign to Akton as chances as alternative fates are burned, Llewyn encounters a plethora of paths in this seemingly simple tale. If it’s banal it’s because most of these opportunities exist hidden in the common tracks of everyday life, and the lack of control in the Coens’ understanding of the overwhelming fate of the world is challenged here by the power to act, live, notice, choose in those confines. Llewyn says early on that he doesn’t play guitar for pleasure, that it’s a business, but we see him go on to play alone while waiting to meet with Grossman, for people in a car who have no interest in hearing him, and we notice the passion with which he plays. The music is shown in full, every song in real time, the Coens holding onto the impermanent moments of genuine pleasure their flawed protagonist gets to have, the value of goodness with which he can at least attempt to provide to others like the scene with his father in desperation and honesty, in the wake of all the problems, net harm, and uncontrollable variables he emits and encounters. I don’t see this film as one about how hard it is to be poor or the struggles of an artist, but one that validates the imperfections of human beings and the limitations and harsh reality of a cold world and society, recognizing the jokes-on-us as they occur in life, and still finding the warm pockets of contentment and beauty we find, take, give, and share in spite of all of it. Llewyn may be doomed like the rest of us to repeat himself, exist in a black hole vacuum of orbital behavioral redundancy and philosophical suppression, but in spite of nonlinear growth and an oppressively bleak visual color palette referencing a solemn milieu, he will continue to eye those small details and ignore others, and that meditation on such trivial images carries with it a power in contrast to all the rest that makes this film bursting with meaning and truth, just not the kind we may expect or know what to do with.

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TheKieslowskiHaze
Joined: Fri Apr 03, 2020 10:37 am

Re: 794 Inside Llewyn Davis

#227 Post by TheKieslowskiHaze » Fri Apr 03, 2020 10:48 pm

therewillbeblus wrote:
Sun Mar 15, 2020 11:13 pm
Revisiting this tonight I was struck by how even within this grand cyclically cosmic Sisyphus tale, the Coens provide striking attention to detail opportunities noticed, unnoticed, taken and lost.
I strongly recommend Adam Nayman's book on the Coens, which takes deep dives into all their pre-Buster Scruggs films. I forget his specific thesis on Llewyn, but that kind of filmic criticism seems up your alley.

bfaison
Joined: Sun Jul 08, 2018 12:22 pm

Re: 794 Inside Llewyn Davis

#228 Post by bfaison » Wed Dec 08, 2021 12:04 am

Revisited this one over the weekend and I never noticed how bad the transfer is. The banding and artifacts, even the text in the credits. It became totally distracting to the point I paused to check the booklet - shocked this was shot on film. There's so much baked in crap I never would've noticed. Would make a great UHD/BD upgrade. The film itself is just as good as I remembered especially that second half.

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hearthesilence
Joined: Fri Mar 04, 2005 4:22 am
Location: NYC

Re: 794 Inside Llewyn Davis

#229 Post by hearthesilence » Wed Dec 08, 2021 11:25 am

bfaison wrote:
Wed Dec 08, 2021 12:04 am
Revisited this one over the weekend and I never noticed how bad the transfer is. The banding and artifacts, even the text in the credits. It became totally distracting to the point I paused to check the booklet - shocked this was shot on film. There's so much baked in crap I never would've noticed. Would make a great UHD/BD upgrade. The film itself is just as good as I remembered especially that second half.
I wonder if this is true for the standard Blu-ray, which is usually really cheap.

bfaison
Joined: Sun Jul 08, 2018 12:22 pm

Re: 794 Inside Llewyn Davis

#230 Post by bfaison » Wed Dec 08, 2021 4:03 pm

I never owned that one but I recently had to get a new TV and I've watched probably around 30 blurays/UHDs on it in the past month or so and this was the worst looking one. I watched it on a Sony UHD player w/ Dolby Vision off, OLED in 'Filmmaker Mode' color @ 'Warm 50' & any motion/Ai/Sharpness settings turned off. Other stuff looks amazing, even on streaming I have yet to see banding as bad as this disc.

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FrauBlucher
Joined: Mon Jul 15, 2013 8:28 pm
Location: Greenwich Village

Re: 794 Inside Llewyn Davis

#231 Post by FrauBlucher » Mon Nov 21, 2022 10:05 pm

therewillbeblus wrote:
Sun Mar 15, 2020 11:13 pm
Revisiting this tonight I was struck by how even within this grand cyclically cosmic Sisyphus tale, the Coens provide striking attention to detail opportunities noticed, unnoticed, taken and lost. From introspection in looking at a movie poster about adventure or watching a taxi cab drive away to the look in a cat’s eyes or a road sign to Akton as chances as alternative fates are burned, Llewyn encounters a plethora of paths in this seemingly simple tale. If it’s banal it’s because most of these opportunities exist hidden in the common tracks of everyday life, and the lack of control in the Coens’ understanding of the overwhelming fate of the world is challenged here by the power to act, live, notice, choose in those confines. Llewyn says early on that he doesn’t play guitar for pleasure, that it’s a business, but we see him go on to play alone while waiting to meet with Grossman, for people in a car who have no interest in hearing him, and we notice the passion with which he plays. The music is shown in full, every song in real time, the Coens holding onto the impermanent moments of genuine pleasure their flawed protagonist gets to have, the value of goodness with which he can at least attempt to provide to others like the scene with his father in desperation and honesty, in the wake of all the problems, net harm, and uncontrollable variables he emits and encounters. I don’t see this film as one about how hard it is to be poor or the struggles of an artist, but one that validates the imperfections of human beings and the limitations and harsh reality of a cold world and society, recognizing the jokes-on-us as they occur in life, and still finding the warm pockets of contentment and beauty we find, take, give, and share in spite of all of it. Llewyn may be doomed like the rest of us to repeat himself, exist in a black hole vacuum of orbital behavioral redundancy and philosophical suppression, but in spite of nonlinear growth and an oppressively bleak visual color palette referencing a solemn milieu, he will continue to eye those small details and ignore others, and that meditation on such trivial images carries with it a power in contrast to all the rest that makes this film bursting with meaning and truth, just not the kind we may expect or know what to do with.
I revisited this tonight. I can't agree more with you, especially your last sentence really strikes the cord with me on the rewatch. The example of that redundancy is with his absent mindedness of allowing the cat to escape more than once. It seems to set the stage for his complacency throughout.

And I can never get enough of the music. It's one of my favorite soundtracks of any film

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Walter Kurtz
Joined: Sat Jul 25, 2020 3:03 pm

Re: 794 Inside Llewyn Davis

#232 Post by Walter Kurtz » Tue Nov 22, 2022 1:56 pm

FrauBlucher wrote:
Mon Nov 21, 2022 10:05 pm
therewillbeblus wrote:
Sun Mar 15, 2020 11:13 pm
... exist in a black hole vacuum of orbital behavioral redundancy and philosophical suppression.../b]

I revisited this tonight. I can't agree more with you...


1. Black holes are not vacuums
2. This may affect its philosophy.

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