Director: Ethan and Joel Coen, USA

 

In 1961 Llewyn Davis plays folk music in one of the little off-beat clubs in New York. He is one of those striving-to-be artists that keep missing the boat. His emotions flow into the music and are the only way he can truly express himself. He sleeps from couch to couch and ends up caring for an orange cat which seems to be able to project more emotion than he is able to muster up. He is surrounded by people who take success in stride and, due to his incapacity to express himself, his fAriends show him very little respect. The cinematography captures a smoky atmosphere where a sinking feeling slowly crawls inside us as if we can sense his failure before it takes place. The Coen brothers have successfully made a melancholic film showing the reality of so many musicians who are struggling to make and never find their place in the limelight. (Shelly Schoeneshoefer)