Posts by Steven Torres10

Sandra Davis64 said:spoiler alert!

I mean, I think you're missing the point here. I guess Gorfein and his wife are actually the parents of that colleague who passed away.

Yeah, but I don't know, Davis's reaction to Mrs. Gorfein when she starts singing feels a little weird to me. Like, he just loses it at his mother? It seems kind of illogical. It’s almost like he’s more hit by her death than his own parents are.

Grace Sanders24 said:It’s obvious they are. I mean, if you look at that one scene where he’s checking the book for their number, you can clearly see they share the same last name as his late friend. It wouldn't make any sense for them to just constantly take him in and welcome him with open arms for no reason, right?🙂

Look, I totally missed that bit about the book. So, yeah, I guess they really are the parents after all.

Joshua Smith5 said:I saw Dylan's 'divine' appearance at the end as the solution to all of Llewyn's problems. I mean, while he's a decent performer, Llewyn—just like his (not so) friends—doesn't really stand out in a sea of similar faces. Dylan, with his unique vocal style and songwriting, just elevates the whole folk scene for the average listener. He’s on a pedestal, sure, but he brings Joan Baez, Phil Ochs, and Judy Collins up there with him. So, if I'm reading this right, Llewyn Davis might actually make it. I mean, isn't his character based on Dave Van Ronk anyway?

+++IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE MOVIE, DON'T READ THIS BECAUSE IT CONTAINS SPOILERS+++

Yeah, he's based on Van Ronk. After all, he has an album called Inside Van Ronk, and the cover looks suspiciously like Davis's album cover. But honestly, I don't think you should look too hard for deeper connections since it's not exactly a semi-autobiographical movie. I was checking his career on Wikipedia, and it turns out the guy Davis played with—the one who died and had an album with him—is totally fictional. Also, the timeline confuses me; Inside Van Ronk came out in 1964, but the movie is set in 1961 and Davis already has an album out. It's weird.🤷

As for Dylan showing up, I took that as the final nail in the coffin for Davis's career. To me, it felt like just another slap in the face that would only push him closer to quitting. You've got this new kid appearing and absolutely killing it, performing exactly the song "Farewell." Then, at the very end, when the guy who beat him gets into a taxi, Davis waves and says "au revoir," which also means goodbye. I guess I could be totally wrong about that, though.

Oh, one more thing—what do you guys think the role of the Gorfein couple is here? For a second, I thought maybe they were the parents of the colleague who died, but I'm probably overthinking it.🤷

@Jamie Turner80, decent take, but one thing really bugged me here:

There isn't even a hint of Bob Dylan in there.

(partial) +++SPOILER+++

Wait, wasn't that Bob Dylan on stage when Davis heads outside to see which "friend" is waiting to beat him up? And he performs the song Farewell? Given that specific singing style, I mean, there's no doubt it's Bob Dylan. Plus, there's a ton of symbolism going on there. First off, the title of the song Dylan is singing. Second, Bob Dylan himself as this massive figure in the folk scene. While everyone else was just recycling old folk tunes without adding anything fresh, Dylan basically took folk to a whole new dimension and revolutionized it because nobody had ever performed it quite like him. Because of that, the whole philosophy Davis (and all those other folkies back then) lived by—"if it’s never new and it never gets old, it’s a folk song"—was totally wrong.

I guess I have to admit the Dylan thing confuses me a bit, though, since the movie is set in 1961, yet Dylan recorded the song Farewell 1963 at one of those clubs in Greenwich Village.🤷

+++END (partial) SPOILER+++😁

All in all, I thought it was a really nice movie and way "deeper" than it looks at first glance. I'd even say it's a slightly atypical Coen film.😁 It definitely isn't as much fun as most of their other stuff (so I totally get where northerntrucker2 is coming from), but I don't know, it has a certain charm to it for me. I enjoyed watching it and I'd definitely recommend it.