Thread: Inside Llewyn Davis--Part One

1) Tessa

Llewyn Davis is obviously a very complex character, but one thing I found interesting was what Llewyn chooses to be motivated by. We see Llewyn on the phone with Mitch as Mitch is telling him about the session at Columbia. Llewyn jumps at this opportunity even though later on, it seems like Llewyn is not overly excited about the song choice. However, Llewyn still seems very eager at this opportunity. What I find interesting, though, is that Llewyn does not seem to care so much about the money aspect of his career even though he is homeless and relying on shelter from other people. One of those people, being Jean, he sleeps with and possibly gets pregnant. Even though Llewyn slept with Jean and sleeps over at her house, he does not show much concern for her being pregnant. In the middle of an intense conversation with Jean, Llewyn changes the topic to ask Jean if she could leave her window open in case the cat comes back. I find it interesting that Llewyn mentions that he feels bad about losing the Gorfein's cat, but he does not feel bad about possibly getting Jean pregnant. 

2) Kykee

An interesting moment when watching the film back was the opening scene of Llewyn in the bar singing. We see a dimly lit bar with a blurred sort of background. This lack of light along with the addition of the folk song allows the audience to focus on what the song is saying rather than the singer himself. In the song, it mentions going all around the world and ending up where you started, establishing the theme of circularity. Moreover, ending back where you started reminds me of coming home after a long journey. One can always travel around the world as the song states, but they will always have a pull back home. Although, this isn’t necessarily the case for Llewyn because he doesn’t really have a place to return to as we learn in the first part of the movie. Because of this, I think music is what makes Llewyn feel at home. In addition, the camera provides very unsteady close up shots of Llewyn while he is singing. The unsteadiness of the camera could resemble the unsteadiness of his life. There are many inconsistencies in his life from where he sleeps to when he will have his next paycheck. Llewyn’s appearance also resembles his unstable lifestyle. It seems like he doesn’t have time to keep up a clean appearance or doesn’t care to which we see by his unshaven face and the clothes he wears. All of these elements introduce the type of character that we are going to see from Llewyn as the movie continues.