Monday, January 28, 2013

Coen Brothers folk music film



On June 25, 2011, I posted about the rumor that the Coen Brothers next film would be based on the life of my late friend Dave Van Ronk.

The film, Inside Llewyn Davis, is now finished and is an account of fictional folksinger Llewyn Davis, set in Greenwich Village in the early-1960s. Dave’s memoir, The Mayor of MacDougal Street, written with Elijah Wald, provided source material for the film but the fictionalized Davis is apparently not Dave (although the films title would seem to be a it of a homage to Dave as one of his LPs from that period was Inside Dave Van Ronk).

The New York Times has published an interesting article about the film – including comments from Elijah who has seen it.

I’m really looking forward to seeing it.


Update (January 29, 2013): Here’s the first trailer for Inside Llewyn Davis. The song playing underneath the scenes is Bob Dylan’s “Farewell,” a song he based on the traditional “Leaving of Liverpool.” There’s a glimpse of the LP cover of the character’s album and indeed it is a homage to Inside Dave Van Ronk.



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4 comments:

  1. I believe that's spelled "Llewyn." And here I'd had it in my head ever since I heard of the project that it was titled "Inside Llewellyn Davis." Oh, well.

    Very few movies are set in the 1960s revival, and as far as I know, no good ones. Certainly not 1963's abominable "Hootenanny Hoot," which shows up occasionally on television in the middle of the night, though it did have musical numbers by Johnny Cash and Judy Henske. The Coens's film, however, looks pretty interesting.

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  2. Thanks for picking up on the spelling mistake. I've fixed it in the text.

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  3. I like the marmalade cat! Did they base that bit on James Bowen's book 'A Street Cat Named Bob?'

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