Inside Llewyn Davis is the latest Cohen brothers film following on from 2010’s True Grit and 2012’s Gambit. With an ensemble cast, a string of awards from this year’s festival screenings and a story-line associated with the heady folk scene that sprang up in New York City in the early 1960s it looks like it’s going to be another impressive production for the highly regarded film writers and directors.
While the trailer doesn’t give too much of the film’s impact away, which we always assume to be a good thing, the fact that it’s already picked up the Grand Prix at this year’s Cannes Film Festival is a good sign of great things to come.
Written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, Inside Llewyn Davis is scheduled for release in December 2013. The screenplay the brothers have written takes inspiration from folk legend, Dave Van Ronk’s memoir of life in the heart of the folk scene explosion.
The plot follows folk singer and songwriter Llewyn Davis, played by Oscar Isaacs, as he works in the New York music circuit with his acoustic guitar and a trailing ginger cat in tow (it’s not his, he just can’t get rid of it). While music is a big part of the story, it also focuses on Llewyn’s love-hate “acquaintance” with his unapologetically frank fellow folk singer Jean, played by Cary Mulligan (The Great Gatsby).
The film also stars John Goodman (Argo) as the music mogul Roland Turner, who looks a lot like the Colonel. Garrett Hedlund (Tron Legacy) is also among the cast as Turner’s driver and chaperone Johnny Five, as well as Justin Timberlake (In Time) playing the other other “love” interest of Jean.
The film only spans a few days, but it’ll be interesting to see how much crazy life the Cohen brothers manage to cram into the movie memoir. With Llewyn seemingly standing on the precipice of a tormented cross roads, it’s set to become a dark tale of desperate measures on a folk guitar track.
With the bleak mid winter of a freezing 60s New York as the backdrop, the scene is set for another unforgiving movie from the guys that brought us Fargo, Raising Arizona and The Big Lebowski, plus the direction behind the cinematic adaptation of No Country For Old Men.
