The Disappointment of 'Inside Llewyn Davis'

The coming week will be full of predictions about who will win the Academy Awards on March 2. One film that won't figure in the Oscar race, despite great reviews from many critics, is "Inside Llewyn Davis." I'm a big fan of the Coen Brothers' films. I loved "Fargo" and "Miller's Crossing," and still quote lines from "The Big Lebowski." I am also a fan of folk music and the early 1960s Greenwich Village scene. So when I heard that the Coen Brothers' next movie was set during the 1960s folk revival, I went to see it as soon as it opened in Orlando. 'Art' films generally open here a couple of weeks after their New York and Los Angeles debuts, so you can imagine how much I anticipated seeing "Inside Llewyn Davis" after so many critics chose the film as one of the top movies of 2013. I can't remember the last time a film disappointed me this much. I wanted so much to like it. It's taken me a few weeks to write about it because I was trying desperately to salvage something from the experience that could provide useful insight to my readers. I think I've finally figured out where it went wrong, which I can pass on so you can avoid the same mistakes. Briefly, the film tells the story of a few days in the life of folk singer Llewyn Davis, a talented, if unfocused, folk singer. The film essentially relates a series of incidents where nice people (friends, family, and even strangers) try to provide opportunities for Llewyn, and he messes up every single one. Over the course of a few days Davis moves from couch to couch throughout the city, deals with the possibility that he may have gotten a friend's wife pregnant, loses a friend's cat, gets a few gigs, gets drunk, and gets beaten up. Unlike other, more successful Coen films, there's not a lot at stake for Llewyn Davis. He doesn't solve a murder, like Marge in "Fargo" or the Dude in "The Big Lebowski." He isn't trying to save his marriage and reunite with his family, like George Clooney's character in "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" Llewyn Davis runs away from his family and his responsibilities -- he doesn't go see his son in Akron when he has the chance and he insults friends who give him free places to sleep, but he won't compromise his art to make more commercial records. That may make him a hero to the Coen Brothers and the critics who loved the film. The average audience member, myself included, doesn't understand what's wrong with some commercial success. Bob Dylan, who makes a brief appearance at the end of the film, sold a lot of records, but that doesn't make him a sell-out. Llewyn Davis doesn't do anything to try to save himself, despite the huge number of lifelines thrown him throughout the film. It's very difficult to make the audience care, if the protagonist doesn't. When you're working on your content, make the stakes as high as possible. Give your protagonist a clear objective to pursue, and have him or her pursue it strongly. It's all right to give the audience someone they can root for and identify with. We want our audience to be engaged and follow the story. Communication with the audience can only happen if they find the story and lead characters compelling. If you can make the story and lead characters compelling enough, you, too, can achieve success.