Inside Llewyn Davis (2013) * 1/2

Directed by:  Joel Coen and Ethan Coen

Starring:  Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, John Goodman, Garrett Hedlund, Justin Timberlake, Adam Driver

Inside Llewyn Davis is a film with lots of buildup in search of a payoff.     Plenty of events happen inside and outside Llewyn Davis, but to what end?     It's not funny, witty, or engaging.    It is mostly harmless and forgettable.    The actors, other than Isaac, don't really stick around long enough to be memorable.    They show up, say a few things, and then leave the scene.    The Coen Brothers have made films like Fargo, No Country For Old Men, A Serious Man, and The Big Lebowski.    How do they account for this egg?   

Llewyn Davis (Isaac) is a folk singer in 1961 Greenwich Village who is struggling and unhappy.    He was once part of a duo and his partner left to pursue a solo career.    His records go unsold and he has to beg his agent for money owed to him.    He spends his nights on friends' couches and his days with his belongings in hand walking around the frigid city streets.    He was once a Merchant Marine and may consider becoming one again if he can't soon buy a winter coat.  

Gigs are like island onto themselves for Llewyn.    He is a talented singer and songwriter, but so are many others fighting for the same gigs.    He just doesn't have any real advantages over his peers.    A club owner tells him, "Jim and Jean draw crowds because half of them want to fuck Jean and the other half wants to fuck Jim."    Count Llewyn among those who fuck Jean.    She informs him she is pregnant and now Llewyn needs to scrape together money for an abortion.    The fact that it might not even be his child is one more turn of the screw.

Davis is not meant to be successful.    Every situation he is involved in hammers that point home.    He is sometimes his own worst enemy.    There are parallels to the Coens' A Serious Man (2009), which was a portrait of a schlub that was presented with humor and pathos.     We feel for the guy whose life is one misadventure after another.     Inside Llewyn Davis keeps us on the outside.   We see what happens to Llewyn but don't really empathize.   

The actors do their own singing and play their own instruments.    There are numbers played in their entirety in the film, which runs mercifully at about 95 minutes.     If the songs were removed, there would barely be enough running time to qualify for feature length, which wouldn't be a problem either.     The songs drone on and have the emotional impact of filler.    Like most of Inside Llewyn Davis, the numbers are forgettable.

I've seen Oscar Isaac now in this film and A Most Violent Year (2014).    He is an intense actor of quiet desperation and power.    He does the best he can, but the film really doesn't give him much help.    I'm predicting big things for Isaac, who will be in the next Star Wars film.    My guess is he won't be singing in that one.