We've recently lost one of the great directors over the last few decades in David Lynch who was known for showing the dreamy and nightmarish side of America (and we need you now, David). The other great tellers of American stories over the same period have been Joel and Ethan Coen. They have protagonists who start out in precarious positions in life....then things go downhill.

Welcome to episode 124 of See Hear Podcast.

There's definitely a rhythm to the Coen Brothers' films....even if their films are not ABOUT music or musicians, they feel musical (and having Carter Burwell score many of their films doesn't hurt in that regard). Two films, however, stick out as music films in their catalogue – O Brother, Where Art Thou and Inside Llewyn Davis – it's the latter that is the focus of this episode.

Sadly, neither Kerry nor Tim were available to record this show, but I welcome back film professor, author, and fellow podcaster Neil Fox back to the show. He selected Inside Llewyn Davis for our discussion, and I couldn't have been happier to revisit this 2013 film that has seemingly divided people on its merits (spoiler alert – we both love it).

The film starts off in Greenwich Village in 1961, and is about a few days in the life of folk musician Llewyn Davis (Oscar Isaac) as he moves from couch to couch, gig to gig, kindness to kindness....and he responds poorly despite being the recipient of others' good nature towards him. Is he an awful human being, or is he lashing out due to a terrible event regarding a former musical partner?

Neil and I had a great conversation about this film and a variety of related issues. Since the film is Bob Dylan adjacent, we had to bring in our thoughts about the recently released Dylan biopic focusing on his early years, A Complete Unknown and see how its tone contrasts with the Coens outlook.

I am grateful for Neil giving over his time to chat with me. He brings a perspective I was fascinated to hear. If you wish to hear more of Neil, you should tune into his show The Cinematologists hosted with Dario Llinares. Info at https://cinematologists.com/ Also, look into his great book “Music Films: Documentaries, Concert Films and Other Cinematic Representations of Popular Music”.

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