Inside Llewyn Davis

The Coen brother's tonic for the existential burden of life - every individual's aloneness, the seeming futility of suffering, the random violence of circumstance - is art . In the movie , the 'art' is folk singing. For the Coen Brothers, their artistry creates cynical movies, infused with dark humor. This Coen Brothers movie is way less violent than any of their other movies, so by that metric, it is certainly more appropriate for teens (no Coen movie is ever appropriate for children or tweens), but the despair, the meandering journey the protagonist takes, I don't see how any of that creates the sense of adventure and hope that a young adult needs when she/he is setting out in the world. So avoid it. They can check back in with this movie, in their forties.

This look at a folk singer’s life in the ‘60s is sometimes funny but mostly just depressing. The humor comes primarily from irony, but the inescapable facts of each situation make it more often sad than funny. Still, the acting is spot on as a host of top-tier actors fill out their idiosyncratic characters in what amount to a series of extended cameos in true Coen Brothers fashion. Like A Serious Man the plot seems to meander, but here it supports the reality of the protagonist’s life. The lack of a point to the film is counterbalanced by the soulful, emotional music throughout, which makes it worth a watch.

A fantastic, realistic film detailing the life of a folk singer. The only content in the film is language and discussion of abortion. It’s fine for anyone, really - so long as they are accustomed to the harsh reality of the world. A sad but beautiful movie.

After the odd and flatly uninteresting "A Serious Man," the Coens' return to dramedy is "Inside Llewyn Davis," about a pessimistic and almost unlikable folk singer who bears the titular name of the film. Davis is a pretty good folk singer in the early 60s, but nobody seems to want him around: his ex-girlfriend dating his friend especially. While there isn't much character development for old Llewyn, the film really isn't concerned with that as it is a snapshot of this misanthropic man's life, and how his self destructive tendencies hurt the ones around him. Isaac is a revelation as Llewyn, showing the audience the small sliver in potential he has in him. John Goodman however, is HYSTERICAL as Rolan, an eclectic old man Davis meets in his homeless travels. His 10 minute role was so thoroughly hilarious I think he was snubbed for the Oscars!

It's not really that this movie is inappropriate in terms of content for teens, but it doesn't really seem to be out to do much for them except to tell them that life will beat you down, and you can tell yourself you can beat it all you want, you ultimately can't. I'm now going to tell you the ending. And no spoiler alert, ’cause I'm saving you time: Llewyn doesn't accomplish anything. He goes to Chicago, gets rejected, tries to apply to the Marines (think “Captain Phillips”), gets rejected there because he burned his pilot's license, then goes back to where he started at the beginning. That's basically it. The movie had you spend a great deal of time getting involved with his story and hoping he'll get out of the slump he's in, simply to bottleneck at a cheap ending in which absolutely none of that mattered. In doing this, the Coens broke a cardinal rule of storytelling they had not broken before: Don't have anything in the story happen by accident. The whole plot is treated as an accident. As a result, the film comes across as much creative and technical mastery, little (if any) point. “You can't short-change yourself.” Unfortunately, Llewyn ends the movie where he started: Thinking there's little, if anything, TO shortchange, when the audience sees countless things.

I'm not sure you should even spend the $$ to take a kid to this movie. It's going to be a must-see for Coen Brothers fans but kids won't get it. In fact I've seen every Coen Brother's movie and even I didn't get the point. The protagonist is a tragic figure, but he's unlikable. There's no one to "root for." Content wise, there is little in there that will traumatize your kid unless you're sensitive about f-bombs and abortion.