message board

[jefflewis]

Just figured I'd start a new string for this one, since the conversation about it was starting to grow inside the dream string, thought it might be worth its own topic.
Definitely a lot of opinions on this one, I know a lot of people who loved it and a lot of people who didn't like it!
(I agree with MHC that the cat is most enjoyable...)
I did like a lot of things about the movie but ultimately it didn't work for me because I thought the music wasn't good enough to be the central focus... If the people in the movie were supposed to be like Tom Paxton, Dave Van Ronk, Peter Paul & Mary, etc., they just didn't make music nearly as good as those real performers did.
For example here's a Dave Van Ronk track that I really like...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiBShabXP4Y

Yes, it's just simplistic folk music, and when Bob Dylan arrived on the scene it made this sort of thing seem old and boring, but it still has this certain magic to it, a real commitment to the material and to the playing and singing, which makes it really twinkle (at least to me).

Similarly, here's a Tom Paxton song I really like (his first three albums are all great, especially the first one) -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcMTk4EjMLU

And again, yeah it's square and dorky, you can see why Dylan blew all these people out of the water and was so much more exciting and brilliant, but still there was a really beautiful quality to this sort of early 60s NYC folk stuff... a beautiful quality which I felt was really lacking in "Inside Llewyn Davis" even though this is the pre-Dylan folk scene which the movie SHOULD have been depicting, was SUPPOSED to be depicting. Somehow the movie just felt like it wasn't taking the music that seriously, even though all the characters in the movie are supposed to be taking the music very seriously.
Anyway, I'm sure there are many opinions on this one! And of course it's still better than most movies out there, because the Coen Brothers are always good...

[misshelenc]

I heard that the brothers auditioned many actors and singers for the main role, even my beautiful Conor Oberst. I had high hopes for his performance because there can't be many people that are better than him. As I was sat in the cinema I realised it was a good thing he didn't get the part as Conor and a ginger cat would have just been too much for me. Too many good things all at once. They should have asked you to audition Jeff.
Anyway, I probably liked the film because I am essentially clueless about music, acting and the 60s. Ignorance is a good thing in this case it seems, as I can just get on with focusing on the themes of how we make choices in life and friendship and relationships and whether anything is worth being poor and alone and homeless for, and not get too worried about the chords. Mostly though it just makes me feel inferior and stupid.
The best song in it is that Flying to the Moon one, it gave me a smile.
xxxxx
_________________
You don’t put your life into your books. You find it there.

[misshelenc]

True Grit was on bbc2 tonight so I put it on to half watch while tackling the ironing. I didn't like it all that much, it was a bit American and I feel distracted in general, the child actress annoyed me too. I loved the soundtrack though, I am such a sucker for piano music.
I haven't seen all their films but out of the ones I have seen, Fargo is the best. It was the first one of theirs I saw and was totally overwhelmed by greatness.
Not really sure why I am telling anyone this, sorry. Lonely Saturday nights eh. xx
_________________
You don’t put your life into your books. You find it there.

[jefflewis]

I think Barton Fink is my favorite one... but there's a couple I haven't seen at least.
It's a lonely Saturday night here in NYC too!
I'm working on an art project and going stir crazy. Been in the house allllll day. But that's pretty much every day for me when I'm home. (I went out for a minute in the morning to buy bananas. It was snowing, that was nice.)

[Dav]

I haven't seen their last flick yet but i'm a huge fan, seen all their previous ones, hard to pick a favorite out of such a great filmography...i'd say Miller's crossing, Barton fink and the big Lebowski might be their best work but almost all are great, O brother intriduced my to Skip James, it's another gem of them, my least favorites would be Lady killers, the barber, even if i like it better the second time i saw it, impressive black and white picture and great acting by James Gandolfini, i got to watch a serious man again as i saw it without subtitiles at the time and i must have missed some things there.
The first film i saw was raising arizona back in college, crazy movie, you can tell that they worked on Evil Dead watching that one.
_________________
http://uberaffe.bandcamp.com

[misshelenc]

Staying in and working on an art project is ideal for me. I always feel too ugly and stupid to leave the house, if I didn't have to I wouldn't, or at least, only at night or something.
I agree Barton Fink is great and I love Lebowski too, and hudsucker.
I don't watch films, as a rule, but theirs are some of the best there are. Definitely the best thing I've seen in the last 6 months was Blackfish, I rewatch that all the time. And I watched Pi this weekend, haven't seen it since it came out so that took me back to being a kitten.
xxxx
_________________
You don’t put your life into your books. You find it there.

[m_coldham]

My instant reaction was that they should have used real musicians... Oscar Isaac is a pretty fine actor, but the music parts, as you said Jeff, just didn't stick.

The main problem for me was the super-smooth modern singer-songwriter vibe that was given to all of the songs - nothing sounded that clean and soft back then, as far as the records sound. It was all a bit 00s-10s sounding to me.

But then, the story line was kind of cool, and there are some funny little moments and ideas, as in any Coens film.

Funnily enough, I decided that Inside Jeffrey Lewis would have made a far better movie (he's already done the research - couchwise). That was before I realised that they auditioned Conor Oberst. Funny! Maybe someday.

[misshelenc]

I'd go to the cinema to see Inside Jeffrey Lewis. Or Conor Oberst. They could do a series.
I actually saw a good documentary last night, called Searching for Sugar Man about Rodriguez. I have ordered his albums, they are great and really don't sound nearly 50 years old. Looking forward to them coming through.
I saw ILD in the DVD section the other day, so it's been released here. And it's on glow gaze too, if anyone wanted to watch it.
xxxx
_________________
You don’t put your life into your books. You find it there.

[jefflewis]

I haven't yet seen the Searching for Sugarman movie, but I love those Rodriguez albums... my friend Jan in Berlin actually sent me a copy of the first Rodriguez album a few years ago, I think perhaps he discovered it on his travels in South Africa, he and I are always swapping interesting musical finds with each other. He gave me a copy of that record in 2006 or 2007, and we all thought it sounded a bit like Ish Marquez! It's a really solid classic album, that first one, Cold Fact... the second album is not nearly as good, maybe only about 5% as good as the first album! But it's still got some good stuff on it. I saw Rodriguez play a solo acoustic gig here in NYC about 2 or 3 years ago, it was really cool, not a huge place, it was at Joe's Pub, it's a place where Diane Cluck plays sometimes... it was sold out, but that's only about 200 people maybe, or less, and it's all seated at tables, so it was a sort of "supper club" intimate kind of show, really cool and nice, he was playing some covers and some of his own stuff, just relaxed and really enjoyable. Very glad I saw that show! I just went alone.

[misshelenc]

I really recommend the documentary if it airs on your channels, it's a storyville thing that was on bbc4 here.
I like both the albums and have played them a few times. They got stuck in the car for a while, and then I got another album that I'm totally obsessed with and therefore I haven't played them as much as I should have. I will do though, just need to get beyond my current addiction and play something else.
It sounds like that gig was good, I would have gone too but I don't think he comes to Britain since I'm pretty sure he worked in demolition and just gigged on the side. And maybe he's a bit too old to travel the world now. I saw a concert in the comedy club in Cardiff Bay like that, the only thing I could think of to do was drink to excess and fill the table with empty gin glasses, since they didn't provide food and I was at the gig with my mum! I have a severe lack of friends in this city. Or anywhere.
Any other good films anyone wants to speak about? Or interesting television? Or anything really? As I am writing I am listening to the Men Who Made Us Spend, about advertising and psychology and stuff. I'm so glad I'm the sort of person who never really wants anything that isn't a book most of the time.
_________________
You don’t put your life into your books. You find it there.

[misshelenc]

I watched some of isaacs newer film last night, A Very Violent Year. My thinking was that even if it was rubbish, shallow me could look at his beauty for a few hours. But he is all orange and doesn't have as good hair and I'm not really into gangster things anyway with my posh accent and life far away from that kind of thing, so I fell asleep on the sofa after about an hour anyway. Xxx
_________________
You don’t put your life into your books. You find it there.

[jefflewis]

That's a great film review! Probably more entertaining than the film itself...
I haven't watched any movies lately... just a short documentary about Jack Kerouac... I thought it would be dumb and cheesy, but it was pretty good.

[misshelenc]

If it means anything, I have had a chance and haven't bothered the bit I slept through... It is likely to remain a mystery.
The best film I've seen lately is Pride, great script and acting (for once!) and telling a good (real) story that actually makes you glad to be human for a change.
A Theory of Everything was pretty good too, and the Imitation Game.
I saw a Kerouac documentary too, it was a while ago but it was on Sky Arts 1. I like his stuff, but it was born out of teen rebellion - my mother told me not to bother because all he does is smoke and travel about and sleep with women and she finds his lack of doing anything for long periods of time to be utterly infuriating. So of course, I hunted some down straight away! I think I've got most of his books now as a result.
xxxxx
_________________
You don’t put your life into your books. You find it there.