Character ambivalence + conflict

Character ambivalence + conflict May 15, 2018 1:58:16 GMT spiderwort, bravomailer, and 1 more like this

Quote

Post by london777 on May 15, 2018 1:58:16 GMT

May 15, 2018 1:40:50 GMT bravomailer said:

May 15, 2018 0:57:08 GMT spiderwort said:

The Coen Brothers' Inside Llewyn Davis looks at a talented but obnoxious Greenwich Village folky in the early 60s. We see him make bad choices but we also see him irk people. Not sure how I rate this film. Not pleasant to watch

I am the Coens' biggest fan but I too felt uncomfortable watching this. Took three attempts to get through it. Your post has made me realize that it was because I did not know what I was expected to think of this character. I have enough confidence in the Coens to watch it again at some future time and be further enlightened. (Another reason is that I have little patience with the sort of music of which he was supposed to be a master, so when his tracks are played I do not know if the Coens are presenting it as great examples of a dying art-form or are demonstrating why he was a second-rate commercial failure).

One thing I love is how one of the seminal moments of post-WWII popular music, Dylan's switch to electric guitar, is subtly and anonymously presented in the background. Do you know the painting by Brueghel the Elder "The Fall of Icarus?" In the foreground, boldly, a peasant is ploughing, In the background is a sumptious landscape and a galleon in full sail. Only belatedly do we notice a leg sticking out of the water (poor old Icarus). Same idea in Llewyn Davis.