A new Coen Brothers movie!

Luckily I had hit a milestone on my latest development project, and it opened today in NYC, in two theaters, so I took off and walked downtown to see Inside Llewyn Davis on Broadway and 14th St. It was the right place to see this movie because that's the neighborhood where it largely takes place, fifty years ago.

What to say? It's not like any other Coen Brothers movie. It's not a slapstick comedy like Raising Phoenix or Fargo or Burn After Reading. It's not as dark as No Country for Old Men, but it is a dark movie.

Is it worth seeing? Of course. It's beautifully made, with lots of music, and small roles for big stars like Justin Timberlake, John Goodman and F Murray Abraham. Goodman's role was especially good, so depraved. Deeply depraved.

There's a lot of symbolism in this movie that I'm going to have to think about.

A nice touch, they gave us a CD with the soundtrack. We've been saying this for a long time, movie producers ought to upgrade the experience with something you can only get if you go to the movie. However, a memory stick would have worked better for me.

Go to this movie if: 1. You are a devoted Coen Brothers fan as I am or 2. You love folk music or 3. You love NY. I was living in the East Village when the movie was made, so the locations are mostly quite familiar to me. I went for a walk in the Village after seeing the movie, to complete the experience.

And here's the NY Times review, which I can now read.