Bridge of Spies

 SPOILER ALERT! The plot will be discussed!

In Bridge of Spies (2015), director Steven Spielberg, with the help of the Coen brothers who worked on the script, presents a story based on true events that explores how the fervor of patriotism and fear can sometimes overshadow objectivity regarding individual actions and the pursuit of justice. This movie, as others by Spielberg (E. T. – The Extra-Terrestrial, Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, to name a few) focuses on ordinary people in extraordinary situations.

The story begins in 1957 and revolves around the capture of a Russian spy and the United States U2 spy airplane piloted by Francis Gary Powers (Austin Stowell) that was shot down during the Cold War. The first shot is that of Rudolph Abel (Mark Rylance, Oscar winner for Best Supporting Actor for this performance). He is painting a self-portrait as he looks at himself in a mirror. As has been noted previously in this blog, mirrors symbolize the “other,” or alter ego of people. The painting shows a different version of Abel, looking less polished both in his face and clothes, the person under the disguise. Abel is pretending to be a law-abiding resident in Brooklyn while spying for the Soviet Union.

The opening sequence shows Abel is already under surveillance by American authorities. He paints in the park and finds an America coin that was planted under a bench. He pries the phony object open when he returns to his apartment. There is a message inside. It is a wonderful ironic symbol since it uses the currency of a capitalist nation on the surface to hide the Communist efforts to undermine that monetary system inside.

FBI agents burst into the apartment while Abel is in his underwear in the bathroom. Despite the fact that authorities caught him in a vulnerable situation, he is incredibly calm as he says, “Visitors.” He professes not knowing why they call him “Colonel,” and he asks simply for his false teeth (“false” being the operative word here for Abel’s fake presentation). He asks meekly to be allowed to clean his painter’s palette. He deceptively grasps the message from the coin as he wipes the paint and while the agents search his place.

The focus shifts to James Donovan (Tom Hanks) who is an insurance lawyer. He argues with the attorney of five individuals who were hit by a car covered by the insurance company. The suing lawyer, Bates (Joshua Harto), argues that since there were five injuries there are five claims because five events occurred. Donovan says it’s only one accident and the liability is limited to “one” event. He says that if a tornado rips apart a house it is the whole house that the insurance company covers, not each separate piece of wood. Otherwise, there is “never any limit to … liability.” That would put an end to the insurance business and then “nobody is safe.” The scene shows Donovan’s insistence on precise language and definitions. The stress on “one” transaction here ties in with later events.

At the law office, Donovan’s partner, Thomas Watters, Jr. (Alan Alda) has Donovan meet an acquaintance from the Bar Association, Lynn Goodnough (John Rue) in private. Goodnough wants Donovan to defend Abel. Donovan helped prosecute war criminals years earlier at Nuremberg, Germany. IMDb also notes that Donovan worked as general counsel for the U. S. military intelligence, so he had experience with spies and war crimes. Goodnough says that it’s important that Abel get a fair trial since the American legal system will show itself to be legitimate. Goodnough agrees that the American people hate Abel for being a Soviet spy and that Donovan most likely will be “reviled” for representing him. In addition, the evidence is “overwhelming” that Abel is a foreign agent. With dark humor, Donovan acknowledges the no-win situation when he says, “Everyone will hate me but at least I’ll lose.” Watters tells Donovan it’s his “patriotic duty” to “defend the son-of-a-bitch.” His conflicting statement reflects what is the right thing to do despite one’s personal feelings.

At home, Donovan’s wife, Mary (Amy Ryan), is against her husband representing Abel because she sees him as a threat to the country which is on high alert at the height of the Cold War. She calls Abel a “traitor.” Again, words are important to Donovan. He points out that the Rosenbergs were traitors because they were Americans and gave secrets to the enemy. Abel is not an American so the classification wouldn’t fit as he was working loyally for his own country, even though Russia was the enemy of the United States.

Donovan meets with Abel and makes clear that he does not work for the CIA or any part of the U. S. Government. He works for Abel. Abel says that he was offered to work as a double agent, but he refused to be a spy against his country for the United States. As Donovan says most Americans would like to see him go to the electric chair, but Donovan is there to ensure that there is a proper handling of the law. Donovan says one of the charges is that Abel didn’t register as an agent of a foreign government. Abel’s humor remains intact when he asks do many foreign agents register. It is of course a ridiculous requirement to have a spy from another country announce his purpose. Given the extreme nature of Abel’s potential punishment, Donovan notes that Abel does not “seem alarmed.” Abel’s response is, “Would it help?” I have often repeated that line when I find myself worrying about something. It may be difficult to react as Abel does, but he is right that being alarmed does not help the situation in any way. This first conversation has Abel asking for some drawing materials and cigarettes. Donovan says at first it’s not possible. Abel then says that America has spies doing the same for the U. S. and if they were caught Abel is sure Donovan would want them treated well.

There is a perfect cut to the situation Abel refers to. We see Powers along with others receiving top secret orders to spy on Soviet nuclear capabilities. So, the film says that it depends on your perspective as to who is the hero and who is the villain. In a way, Abel does surveillance on the ground of his enemy’s land while Powers does it from the sky. From a distance it is easy to place individuals into stereotyped categories. Once a person gets to know another, that set of criteria may change. As Spielberg said, “everyone you think should be wearing a black hat isn’t necessarily wearing that hat … how could we possibly come out caring about this person in the least? But in this case, we do.”

The bias that Judge Byers (Dakin Matthews) has against Abel is evident in the first pre-trial meeting Donovan attends. Byers basically says there will be a pretense to due process under the law, but that Abel should be convicted. Byers considers Donovan’s plea for a continuance that would delay the inevitable guilty verdict a ridiculous request.

After the meeting, Donovan can’t get a cab. It is night and raining, which adds a sinister quality to the scene. A man follows Donovan. He turns out to be CIA Agent Hoffman (Scott Shepherd), who, after they go into a bar, attempts to acquire from Donovan what Abel tells the attorney. Hoffman scoffs at attorney-client privilege and says there is “no rule book here” given the circumstances. Donovan says he is Irish and Hoffman admits he is of German heritage, but the “one” (that number again) thing that makes them Americans is the adherence to the “rule book,” the Constitution. Donovan is angry at this point with the ease with which Byers and Hoffman dispense with legal safeguards. There is an intimidating force behind Hoffman’s question to Donovan when the CIA agent says, “Do we have to worry about you?” The irony here is that Donovan feels threatened by his own government for doing his job according to the law that is supposed to protect democratic principles.

Donovan looks at the evidence acquired from Abel’s belongings, but there was no search warrant for the items the FBI acquired. He points out to the judge that even though Abel is not a U. S citizen, due process still applies, and the evidence should not be used. The judge doesn’t seem to care about the letter of the law and says that given the Cold War he denies Donovan’s motion. The film shows that the judge’s decision isn’t an interpretation of the law but simply a dismissal of it, which is a dangerous act.  He justifies his actions later by saying there are “bigger issues” at stake. Donovan says to Abel that he is not a U. S. citizen, but his “boss” says he’s not a Soviet citizen either, since Russia is not going to acknowledge that it had a spy in America. Abel again uses his humor despite his dire situation. He says, “Well, the boss isn’t always right. But he’s always the boss.” His remarks apply to the judge, too, which means both countries can be wrong but those in power can ignore the truth.

There is a nice cut to students making the “Pledge of Allegiance,” which states there should be “liberty and justice for all.” This story shows that provision doesn’t always apply. Then there are school children in tears as they watch a film showing the devastation that a nuclear blast can inflict, which can sway people away from that “justice for all” belief. The government gave out false hope that people could withstand the blast by following the “duck and cover,” action, and filling bathtubs and basins with water if the utilities are not functioning. Donovan’s son, Roger (Noah Schnapp), is in his bathroom preparing for the water shortage and tells his father about how their house will be in the blast zone. Donovan tries to calm his boy by saying that no attack is imminent. Apprehension causes even his own son to question why he is defending a spy who could help make the Soviet attack possible. Donovan saying he is doing his job is not sufficient for Roger, as he, like the judge, is willing to dismiss the rules when fear is present. That negative attitude carries over into the population at large as people recognize Donovan from his picture in the newspapers showing he is representing Abel.

Donovan gives Abel a drawing he left in the courtroom and discovers from Abel that his wife plays the harp in a Russian orchestra. Abel also tells a story about how his parents were beaten. Abel’s humor, unwillingness to give into fear, and the facts about his family make him a human being, not a stereotype for Donovan. Abel says that there was a friend of his father who suffered repeated beatings but still stood up. Those inflicting the pain gave up and called him, “standing man.” Abel sees in Donovan that same type of resilience.

The movie does not depict the trial since that is not the focus of the story. The jury finds Abel guilty, despite the illegally acquired evidence. He is, in fact, guilty of espionage. Donovan tells Abel that the death sentence isn’t a lock. Donovan goes to the judge’s house who is preparing for a March of Dimes event to combat polio. The judge is not without his humanitarian interests. Donovan makes a practical argument by stressing his insurance background and says that Abel should be kept alive in case an American is captured doing the same act, spying for his country. Then a trade could be made, which is what the rest of the film depicts.

Donovan’s insurance argument works as the judge sentences Abel to thirty years imprisonment. There is an outcry in the courtroom as people yell for Abel’s death. There is a massive number of reporters taking Donovan’s picture as he exits the courthouse. His wife is frightened by the outcry and Donovan’s partner, Watters, says that Donovan has done his job showing that Abel received a decent defense. If Donovan pursues an appeal, although legally sound, it is not, as Mary says, worth the “cost” to his family and the firm. Again, the environment of fear surrounding the Cold War threatens the letter of the law. Even Abel warns Donovan that he should be “careful” about what can happen to him in an atmosphere of hate as he tries to follow the lawful path.

Abel and the warnings of his wife and partner come to fruition as shots are fired into the Donovan house. The neighbors shout intimidating remarks and even a police officer is confrontational telling Donovan that he shouldn’t be defending Abel. Donovan, the “standing man,” is not one to back down, and stands his ground (Tom Petty reference intentional) as he says that he did his patriotic duty by serving in the military and the policeman should now do his job (which is what Donovan has been stating he is doing).

There is a switch to instructions that the U2 pilots receive. They are told that their mission is secret, and they must not let the plane fall into enemy hands. There is a self-destruct mechanism on the aircraft, and they must go down with the plane. If they think they will be captured, they will have a dollar coin with a lethal poison on a pin inserted in the currency which they are to use. Agent Williams (Michael Gaston) says, “spend the dollar.” It is interesting that we have a second reference to American money, and by extension its capitalist system, that has hidden action attached to it: with Abel, it is to discover the military secrets of the United States; with the U2 pilots, it is to protect those secrets.

We have a series of cuts between the pilots preparing for their spy flights and Donovan getting ready to make his case by citing the Constitution in front of the Supreme Court. In essence we are seeing two versions of fighting for American democracy. Before the Supreme Court, Donovan argues that Abel should be given “the full benefits of the rights that define our system of government.” He makes the case that by showing “who we are,” is “the greatest weapon we have in the Cold War.” He is basically saying that not following the laws that make America an exemplary form of government shows the world that we are no better than the enemies of democracy that we fight against. But he loses his logical argument in the face of an irrational situation, and the Court upholds the conviction.

In a dazzling piece of cinematography, the film shows Powers’s plane hit by enemy fire. He attempts to throw the self-destruct switch, but the cockpit canopy blows apart as the plane falls to the ground. Powers temporarily remains tethered and again attempts to flip the self-destruct switch. But his connecting line to the craft breaks and he opens his parachute. The Russians capture him and he, like Abel, receives a conviction for spying. the filmmakers have stressed the analogy between the two men.

Donovan receives a back-channel letter from East Germany that purports to come from Abel’s wife. Abel says the writing style shows it to be a fake but says that Donovan may as well answer it since it’s difficult to know what “move” to make when one doesn’t know “the game.” There is the implication that the letter may be an attempt to get Abel back to Soviet territory. Donovan meets with Allen Dulles (Peter McRobbie), Director of the CIA. He acknowledges that Donovan was right about the possibility of a prisoner swap and believes that the Soviet Union is using East Germany so it will not have to acknowledge Abel as a Russian spy. The CIA wants Powers back before he cracks and gives up secrets, and Russia wants Abel returned for the same reason, although Donovan knows Abel would never cooperate. Dulles wants Donovan to appear to act (more deceiving appearances) as an independent citizen so that the U. S. Government does not appear to be involved. He will receive no help if “things go south.” As Dulles and Donovan state, there is a fiction being presented on both sides of the Cold War. So, Donovan must pretend that he is corresponding with Abel’s “wife,” and must be a spy himself now as he must go undercover, keeping his mission secret from everybody, including his wife. To complicate matters Russia wants to stop the negative appearance of refugees escaping from East Berlin to West Berlin and is ready to construct what becomes the infamous Berlin Wall. Dulles is funny when asked by Donovan what he should tell Abel. Dulles says, “tell him to stay alive.” It is ironic that the country that wanted Anel dead now needs him to be that “standing man.”

Another element is added to the exchange plan. As the Communists build the Berlin Wall amid chaos among the citizens of the city, American doctoral student Frederic Pryor (Will Rogers) rides his bicycle to get his girlfriend, Katje (Nadja Bobyleva) out of the city. Even though he has identification documents and is carrying his dissertation on Communist economics, the East Germans authorities arrest him.

Donovan travels to Berlin and he hears about the arrest of Pryor who the East Germans are saying is also a spy. Donovan, again trying to do whatever he can to make things right, wants to try and get Pryor out, but the U. S. stance is to worry about the student later. The lawyer, Wolfgang Vogel (Sebastian Koch), representing the fake Mrs. Abel is also Pryor’s attorney. It appears that the East German and Soviet interests may not align, since the East Germans don’t want the Russians to treat them as pawns.

It is very dangerous for Donovan as he travels to East Germany without U. S. support. Food is scarce in East Berlin so there is crime and little police enforcement at this point to keep criminals in check. If Donovan gets too close to the wall he could be shot. He must also not draw attention to himself since he is a foreigner and could appear to be a spy. He has papers added to his passport which justify his entrance to East Berlin. He demonstrates his boldness by confronting the guards at the entrance to speed him ahead of the long line. It is very cold and youths accost him and he must give up his coat and walk in the freezing weather to his meeting. Donovan is also not feeling well since he caught a cold. The story shows the courage and persistence of the man in his pursuit in what he believes is just.

At the Russian Embassy where Donovan is to meet Vogel he encounters three people who say they are relatives of Abel. As Abel had said, the woman is pretending to be his wife and she has a fake daughter and cousin with her. They put on a show of grief that they hope will soften Donovan’s negotiation terms, but Vogel can see past their drama. Ivan Schischkin (Michael Gor), who says he’s a secretary at the embassy, but is really a KGB chief, appears instead of Vogel since the lawyer is a German and would make the negotiation between the U. S. and Russia more indirect. The two play a clever diplomatic game. The Russian wants to get Abel first so as to save face and then they will release Powers. Donovan rejects that move knowing they may never get Powers back. Schischkin suggests the quickness desired by Donovan means Abel has already given up what he knows and wants to stop Powers from doing the same. Donovan concludes that Powers must not have divulged anything, or the Soviets would agree to a fast trade. He suggests that Abel may still have secrets and will be willing to divulge them for some American favors and suggests that future Soviet prisoners might do the same if Russia will not seek their return expeditiously. Donovan says that that the two of them must work together so that their countries do not escalate their problems to the point that war is possible. Donovan makes a bold request to make Pryor part of the deal, but it is the East Germans who apprehended him, complicating the deal.

Donovan finally meets Vogel at the lawyer’s address. Vogel says that the United States must recognize East Germany as a sovereign state in exchange for Pryor. But Donovan can refuse that demand because he is not officially representing America and can’t grant that request. Vogel says that he also is not a representative of East Germany, so basically he is Donovan’s counterpart as their respective governments want to keep their distance from the activities. Vogel agrees to provide Pryor as part of the exchange. The implication is that if East Germany handles getting Abel back for the Russians it will acquire respect on the world stage for doing the Soviets a favor. The Feds just want Powers, but Donovan insists on Pryor being part of the deal. Powers was captured and didn’t commit suicide, so Donovan cuts through any humanitarian hype about getting him back. He knows that there is no love for the pilot and that the U. S. Government just doesn’t want him to leak information.

The Soviets apply tactics seen in The Ipcress File on Powers. They keep waking him up to wear him down, hoping to squeeze information about the spy flights out of him before the trade. There is a fitting symmetrical cut to the Feds arousing Abel in his cell to go to East Berlin. Schischkin says Russia has consented to exchanging Powers for Abel. Donovan thinks he also has a deal to get back Pryor, who everyone knows is not a spy, from the East Germans. But when he meets Vogel again the lawyer is angry that Donovan has made a deal for getting two-for-one. East Germany wants all the credit for getting Abel. Donovan again uses his insurance argument that this transaction is all part of one deal. Donovan rides in Vogel’s car because he is going to West Berlin. Vogel points out the devastation in East Berlin and reflects his country’s anger at Russia for deciding not to rebuild the city. He deliberately speeds the car and the police stop them. Vogel knows that without the proper credentials the authorities will detain Donovan.

The film then provides shots of what is now four incarcerated individuals in this story: Powers, Abel, Pryor and now Donovan. The police release Donovan and, as he rides the train to West Berlin, he witnesses the shooting of people trying to scale the Berlin Wall. That scene adds visceral shock to the horrors taking place in the world.

The U. S. Government has been keeping Donovan under wraps and placed him in an obscure, dingy, cold dwelling. He decides to be defiant considering what he has endured and shows up at the Hilton and orders a proper breakfast at the place where CIA agent Hoffman is staying. He points out to Hoffman that his night in jail wasn’t much worse than where the CIA set him up to stay. Donovan learns that the East German Attorney General, Herald Ott (Burghart Klaubner), called to meet Donovan, but Hoffman sees that as nothing important since they will be getting Powers.

Donovan never wavers from his moral imperative of trying to get Pryor returned. Donovan takes the meeting with Ott who is congenial about exchanging Pryor for Abel but is outraged when Donovan mentions Powers. Ott says the release of an innocent man is understandable, but why care about what in essence he sees as spilled milk when it comes to Powers. Ott gets a call and Donovan waits outside Ott’s office and a worker there tells Donovan the Attorney General had to leave. Here is where Donovan takes advantage of his unofficial negotiating status by making the demands he sees as morally fit, unencumbered by the political posturings of the countries involved. He gives the employee a message stating that there will be no exchange for either the Soviets or East Germany if the deal isn’t for both Pryor and Powers. He adds weight to his demand with the scenario that if Abel realizes he will not return to Russia he may change his mind about cooperating with U. S. intelligence. Ott must call by the end of the day since there will be no point in going to the Glienickie Bridge in the morning if the deal is off.

As IMDb points out, as Donovan passes a movie theater on his way to calling his wife the marquee shows the film playing is Spartacus. Dalton Trumbo wrote the screenplay when he was on the Hollywood blacklist and this movie was the first to show his real name during that time. The inclusion points to how destructive the anti-communist fear was in America. In another scene Spielberg also includes a reference to the film One, Two, Three, a satire about the Cold War, again stressing the preoccupation with this time in history. Donovan’s family thinks he is in London and his children are too “busy” to say hello to him on the phone. Given what he’s been going through it’s funny when he asks Mary if the kids even noticed he hadn’t been “around.”

Donovan receives a call saying the exchange is on, but Pryor will be released at Checkpoint Charlie only after Abel and Powers are traded. The tenseness of the scene at the Glienickie Bridge is heightened since there are snipers from both sides in position to open fire if needed. Abel is happy to see Donovan there, knowing that this person who works for his enemy is an honorable man. Donovan’s actions show what he said earlier that demonstrating the best of American ideals is the strongest weapon against the enemies of the United States.

These two keep their sense of humor in this dangerous situation. Fellow U.S. pilot Officer Murphy (the recently Oscar-nominated Jesse Plemons) is there to identify Powers. Abel wonders who will ID him and Donovan says that he hopes it isn’t his fabricated East German family who couldn’t identify each other. When Donovan asks Abel what will happen when he gets back home Abel says he’ll “have a vodka.”  He then soberly says he will be considered to have acted honorably if he’s embraced. But, if the Soviets show him “the back seat” of a car, he might be punished. To help Donovan, Abel refuses to cross the bridge until Pryor is released. When the word comes that the student has arrived, the two prisoners cross the bridge. Donovan looks in dismay as there is no embrace for Abel, only the open door to the back seat.

Nobody will acknowledge Powers on the airplane back home. The CIA and military see him as a failed soldier no matter what he says about not divulging anything.  For them, he should have sacrificed his life as a patriot instead of allowing Russia to display him as a spy. He tells Donovan he told the Russians nothing. Donovan tells him it doesn’t matter what others believe, only Powers knows what he did. He could be talking about himself, since Donovan was hated for his defense of Abel. But he knows he did what was right legally with Abel, and secretly fashioned the release of two American prisoners without seeking thanks. He only wishes to go home.

However, when Donovan arrives home he receives acknowledgement of his efforts on TV to his family’s astonishment. A passenger on the train to work now sees the bigger picture that Donovan was a part of and smiles at him. Donovan may have come home, but when he sees boys jumping over a backyard fence, his face looks troubled as we know he is thinking of those shot at the Berlin Wall. The horror of the time has come home with him.

A title card at the end of the film says that President John F. Kennedy recruited Donovan to negotiate the release of 1,113 prisoners from the Bay of Pigs invasion. He arranged for 9,703 to be let go. He was an extraordinary man.

The next post will offer comments on recent streaming shows: The Good Nurse; The Watcher; Bad Sisters: The Patient.

Miller's Crossing

 SPOILER ALERT! The plot will be discussed.

 

Miller’s Crossing (1990) has the Coen Brothers again delving into the darkness of the film noir genre. The world is corrupt, with politicians on the take as gangsters rule. There is the stylized, sharp dialogue, and a femme fatale. But the Coens, as usual, imprint their own slanted, often humorous, style onto the conventions of this type of story. It is a tale that uses hats, heads, and hearts symbolically to address themes surrounding masculinity versus vulnerability, and intelligence versus emotions.

 The film opens with a shot of a fedora hat blowing in the wind in a forest. In literature, the forest is a hidden place where deeds are done that are outside the laws of the civilized world (think of the movie Deliverance). This image will be revisited during the story as it takes on more meaning. There is a shift to the gangster Johnny Casper (Jon Polito) who is in a struggle for control of the city (unnamed, but may be New York during the 1920’s). Casper has an adviser whom he trusts, Eddie “The Dane” (J. E. Freeman). But, as was noted on this blog concerning the film The Grifters, when laws are made to be broken, one becomes suspicious of everybody. Casper is an ironically morally conflicted character, since, although he flaunts the law, he desires that there should be honor among thieves. So, he tends to contemplate questions involving the correct way to behave. He says, “You double-cross once, where’s it all end? An interesting ethical question.” He and The Dane are talking about Bernie Bernbaum (John Turturro), a grifter who is selling information about the boxing matches that Casper is rigging so he can collect on the prearranged outcomes. Bernie is cutting into Casper’s profits. The angry Casper says, “It’s gettin’ so a businessman can’t expect no return from a fixed fight. Now, if you can’t trust a fix, what can you trust?” If you must rely on “chance,” Casper says, “you’re back with anarchy, right back in the jungle.” He wants to violate society’s rules so he can gain financially, but contradictorily wants prohibitions on anyone else not following established guidelines, even if they are corrupt standards. 

 

Casper asks the opposing criminal leader, Leo O’Bannon (Albert Finney), to allow him to kill Bernie. This request is troublesome for Leo because he is romantically involved with Bernie’s sister, Verna (Marcia Gay Harden), who is the femme fatale of the story, and most likely has attached herself to Leo to protect her equally scheming brother. Everyone is working an angle in this alternate outlaw realm. Leo refuses the request and after Casper leaves, confers with his confidante, Tom Reagan (Gabriele Byrne), who is the film’s main character. The movie had a working title of “The Bighead,” which was to refer to Tom. He is mostly a thinker and a plotter. Tom is the supreme manipulator among the many schemers in the movie. But his intellect can’t compete with the world of chance (where “anarchy” exists according to Casper) which he keeps trying to beat by gambling. He constantly loses and is in debt to a loan shark. During the course of the film he sustains multiple beatings which shows he can’t always outsmart the “jungle” world Casper is worried about.

 Tom is practical and tells Leo that he should let Casper get rid of Bernie. But Leo, unlike Tom, is ruled by his heart. The next morning Tom wakes up after a night where he lost his hat in a card game. Since hats are worn on the head one of their symbolic meanings in the story refers to brain power. So, when Tom gambles, he loses his money because his mental ability can’t help him beat the odds. His loss of the hat means his intelligence has been defeated. But when it comes to people, Tom is quite adept at planting ideas in the minds of others to sway their behavior. As Adam Nayman points out in his book, The Coen Brothers - This Book Really Ties the Films Together (the subtitle obviously referring to the Dude’s carpet in The Big Lebowski), Tom is described as “the man who walks behind the man and whispers in his ear.” The first shot of him, Nayman points out, has Tom in the background, suggesting he is the “power behind the throne.” 

 

To support Casper’s paranoia about the proliferation of the double-cross, we learn that Tom is having an affair with Verna. One evening, Leo shows up at Tom’s place and confides that he can’t find Verna. He hired a private detective to track her, a man named “Rug” Daniel. He has that name because he wears a hairpiece. There is a later scene where a boy finds the corpse of Daniel and pulls the wig off of the man. (Was he killed by Verna or Bernie?). Nayman says that head coverings are also symbols of masculinity in the film. So, the fact that Daniel didn’t have real hair and he was killed shows he wasn’t manly enough to survive in this unlawful world. The removal of the wig could imply being scalped, which is a sort of symbolic emasculation. Even though Tom is Leo’s close friend, at that moment while he is visiting Tom and is worried about Verna, she is actually in Tom’s bedroom. It shows how Tom’s loyalty is not what it seems on the surface in this universe which lacks “ethics,” and people keep their motives hidden, like under one’s hat. As Tom says at one point, emphasizing the lack of transparency that is prevalent, “Nobody knows anybody. Not that well.”

 

Tom finds Leo in a meeting with the corrupted mayor and chief of police. Leo is escalating the conflict with Casper’s organization by informing the city officials about Casper’s illegal clubs so they can shut them down. Tom warns against increasing hostilities and again advises Leo to turn Bernie over to Casper. The snappy film noir dialogue is present here as Tom tells Leo to think about the cost of protecting Bernie. Leo says, “Oh, come on Tommy. You know I don’t like to think.” Tom’s response is, “Yeah. Well, think about whether you should start.” The exchange also contrasts Tom’s “big head” approach with how Leo follows his feelings. 

 

Casper meets with Tom and suggests he’ll take care of Tom’s gambling debts (he already refused the offer from Leo, showing his independence) so that Tom will work for him. Tom is sarcastic with Casper, who does not like anybody snubbing him, or as he puts it giving him “the high hat.” The use of this term again associates the head covering with masculine hierarchy, and, as Nayman notes, connects to the image of the floating hat in the first scene. Casper has his men beat up Tom, who is saved by the cops raiding the place, courtesy of Leo’s complicity with the police. 

 In retaliation for the raids, Casper sends hitmen to kill Leo at his home. This scene is a terrific action sequence as it shows that the older Leo retains his cool and lethal capability. He is relaxing comfortably in his upstairs bedroom in his pajamas and robe when he notices smoke coming through the floor which is a result of a burning cigarette in the fingers of a dead bodyguard. Leo calmly extinguishes his cigar, puts on his slippers, and then shoots the bedroom invader once in the foot and then in the head, ironically mimicking Casper’s rule to take down the enemy first and then put “one in the brain.” The stress on shooting a bullet in the head again brings up the motif that suggests a symbolic death due to decapitation of one’s manhood. After all, the penis has a “head,” and in the Mafia, “capos” translates to “heads,” which are leaders in that gangster organization. Leo takes the hitman's Thompson machine gun, slides down the roof of the house, and opens fire, killing his assailants. In an over-the-top image Leo shoots a hood in his bedroom, and the man discharges multiple rounds from his automatic weapon as he dies, as if merging the medieval connection of sex and death, as he literally “shoots his load.” Feathers rain down from the blasted pillows, which as Nayman says, joins violence with softness in Leo’s character. After Leo fires at a retreating car driven by one of the thugs, it explodes in flames, accentuating Leo’s success at self-defense, which he celebrates by pulling out his cigar (another phallic symbol) to show his triumphant manliness. 

 After this attack, Tom again presses Leo to give up Bernie because he knows there will be further attempts on Leo’s life. When Tom realizes he can’t convince Leo to change his mind, he puts a plan into action which at this moment isn’t obvious to the audience. He admits that he and Verna are having an affair. The outraged Leo follows Tom out of his office and proceeds to punch him in the face - Tom’s head getting a beating, which again shows Leo’s high testosterone potency. Since he’s breaking ties with Tom, he says it’s “the kiss off.” Even as he is saying goodbye to Tom, the expression suggests a loving relationship that has gone bad. Nayman says that if Miller’s Crossing is a love story, it's between “Tom and Leo.” 

 

Tom meets with Casper again because as we eventually learn Tom’s public break with Leo allows him to convincingly accept Casper’s previous offer to join his side of the fight. This way, Tom can undermine Leo’s enemy. But The Dane doesn’t trust Tom, and we get more of those tough film noir exchanges. When The Dane asks Tom how he got a “fat lip,” which was courtesy of the loan shark’s men, Tom’s response is, “Old war wound. Acts up around morons.” There is more homosexual subtext involving The Dane and Mink (Steve Buscemi), Casper’s bookie, who is double-crossing (no “ethics” again) Casper by giving Bernie information on the fixed fights. Also, Mink may be intimately involved with Bernie. In any event, Casper wants Tom to prove his loyalty by telling him where to find Bernie and then killing him.

 

After acquiring Bernie, Tom rides out with Bernie and two of Casper’s thugs, Frankie (Mike Starr) and Tic-Tac (Al Mancini) to Miller’s Crossing, a forest, divorced from society, that we saw in the initial image of the film, where illegal actions can take place. Frankie tells Tom to take Bernie out into the woods and to carry out Casper’s two-shot assassination rule. As Nayman notes, Tom has his hat on, a sign of masculine power, and Bernie’s head is uncovered, indicating his weakness. Bernie is on his knees pleading for his life, asking Tom to look inside his “heart.” Tom fires two shots, deliberately missing Bernie, and tells him to leave town. He is Verna’s brother after all, and if he is gone, Tom probably figures Verna will stop using Leo. Tom returns to the car and tells Frankie and Tic-Tac that Bernie is dead.

 

Casper tells Tom that Mink is missing and The Dane goes to Verna’s place to find out where Leo is. He shoots two of Leo’s men who show up after finding out Leo’s location from one of them. The Dane tells Verna that she doesn’t have to concern herself with Tom anymore since Tom killed Bernie. So, Verna believes she has been betrayed. The very much alive Bernie sneaks into Tom’s apartment instead of running away as Tom told him to do. Bernie gets satisfaction out of saying he fooled Tom with his tearful plea for mercy. Bernie figures he has leverage over Tom who he wants to kill Casper. Otherwise, Bernie will divulge that Tom let him go, and Casper would then kill Tom for not killing Bernie. We now get how Tom acts in a situation that is similar to what happened to Leo. Tom was smoking a cigar, as did Leo, before someone entered his place. Both men have their homes invaded. As Bernie leaves, Tom slips out his window, as did Leo. But Tom’s attempt to ambush Bernie is unsuccessful as Bernie trips him and kicks him in the face. Nayman notes that Leo wore slippers when defending his home, but Tom is barefoot, implying Tom “can’t fill Leo’s shoes.”

 

The Dane is skeptical that Tom killed Bernie when he finds out that Frankie and Tic-Tac didn’t witness the shooting. He obviously wants Bernie dead for personal reasons given his jealousy concerning Mink. He forces Tom to go back to Miller’s Crossing to make sure there is a body there, because if there isn’t one, The Dane says that Tom’s corpse will do. As they walk into the woods, Tom’s fear gets the better of him. He becomes faint and he vomits. He loses his hat in this scene which goes along with the motif that an uncovered head is a sign of male weakness or impending doom. Tom gets a reprieve because Casper’s men do find a body, but the man was shot in the face. He is dressed like Bernie so The Dane assumes it is Verna’s brother. However, we discover later that Bernie shot Mink and left him there to make it look as if Tom killed Bernie. As Nayman stresses, there are many duplications of scenes in this film. As was noted, there are the home invasions of Leo and Tom. Here we have two scenes set at Miller’s Crossing. There are the Tom-Leo-Verna and The Dane-Bernie-Mink love triangles. The scene where Leo has a meeting with the city’s on-the-take officials is repeated with Casper in control. Nayman says that this repetitiveness points to all the double-crosses that take place in this lawless underworld that exists below the social appearance of legality.

 There is an earlier scene between Tom and Verna that also involves the hat symbolism. Tom says he had a dream that the wind blew his hat away. Perhaps the opening shot was a dramatization of Tom’s dream. Verna tries to psychoanalyze him, saying he probably chased the hat and when he caught it, “it changed into something else, something wonderful.” Tom is dismissive of her interpretation, and says, “It stayed a hat and I didn’t chase it.” He then adds, “Nothing more foolish than a man chasin’ his hat.” In spite of himself, Tom is revealing his own insecurities concerning his manhood by way of the hat symbolism in the film. As Nayman points out, Tom’s Irish accent makes “hat” sound like “heart,” and that sets up a metaphorical “dichotomy” between Tom’s brainy side versus his emotional one. He cares about Leo and he let Bernie live. Verna says to him, “Admit it isn’t all cool calculation with you … that you’ve got a heart - even if it’s small and feeble and you can’t remember the last time you used it.” But she knows how his cold side can take over when she says to him, “I’ve never met anyone who made being a son-of-a-bitch such a point of pride.” 

 Tom uses an ex-boxer, Drop Johnson (Mario Todisco), who Bernie was placing bets with, as a go-between to contact Bernie. When he gets in touch with Bernie he sets up a meeting at Tom’s apartment. At Casper’s house, Tom acts as if the dead Mink, who double-crossed Casper by divulging the fixed fights, is still alive and will be at Tom’s place at the same time Tom told Bernie to show up. The Dane and Mink were very close and Tom exploits that closeness to undermine The Dane. The Dane found out from Drop Johnson that Bernie is still alive and he wants to kill Tom. But, Casper slams him with a fireplace shovel, and repeats his slogan, “Always put one in the brain,” as he shoots The Dane in the head. As Nayman says, Tom figuratively “put one in the brain” of Casper, planting the idea that The Dane helped Mink double-cross Casper. As was said earlier, Tom is the fellow who “walks behind the man and whispers in his ear.”

 

Casper says he will go to Tom’s place and kill Mink himself. Tom walks to his apartment and allows his plan to play out. He knows that there will be a confrontation between Bernie and the surprised Casper who thought he was going after Mink. He hears shots and finds Casper dead on the stairs since Bernie killed him. Tom takes money out of Casper’s wallet and asks Bernie to give him his gun so they can frame The Dane. But, after he has the pistol, he says The Dane is dead, and Bernie will take the blame. Tom points Casper’s gun at Bernie who, yes, duplicates his earlier performance, asking Tom again to “Look in your heart.” But, Tom wanted Bernie gone before to ease tensions between the warring factions and his response this time is, “What heart?” He shoots Bernie and makes it appear as if Casper and Bernie killed each other. Tom also uses Casper’s cash to pay off his gambling debts. 

 At Bernie’s burial, Verna now knows for sure that Tom killed her brother, and she is hostile and drives off leaving the two men to walk back, stressing that the love story is between these two men. Leo acknowledges to Tom what a “smart play” Tom concocted to protect Leo’s interests. Even though he is going to marry Verna, Leo is the one with the “heart,” since he is willing to “forgive'' Tom concerning his affair with Verna. Nayman says the “queer subtext” appears as Leo tells Tom, “I need you.” But Tom says he didn’t ask for forgiveness and he doesn’t want it, and refuses to go back to work for Leo. Leo looks like a scorned lover as he walks off angry. The last shot is a zoom in on Tom as he tugs on the rim of his hat. He has his virility, but his refusal to allow himself to be open to affection, which carries with it being emotionally vulnerable, means he must go it alone.

The next film is A Hard Day’s Night.

Inside Llewyn Davis

SPOILER ALERT! The plot will be discussed.

Inside Llewyn Davis (2013), written and directed by the Coen Brothers, focuses on the New York Greenwich Village coffeehouse folk music environment of the early 1960’s. The title is borrowed from an album by a folk singer of that time, Inside Dave Van Ronk. But this film is not just an homage to that time period. The Coens like to take a topic or genre and put their own imaginative stamp on it. This movie is a sort of mock epic that deals with an antihero looking for a home that is in the past, and so he is alienated from the present and ill-equipped to venture into the future. As Adam Nayman says in his book, The Coen Brothers (with the subtitle - This Book Really Ties the Films Together - humorously alluding to the Dude’s carpet in the Coens’ The Big Lebowski), this work contains “complex observations about ambition, artistry, and aloneness,” and the main character’s “various failures as a friend, lover, and performer.” We can have admiration for Davis’s talent and respect for the purity of his music, and even his disdain for those in the world that have desecrated art solely for commercial gain. But we also judge him for his selfishness and animosity towards others.

The story begins at the Gaslight Cafe in 1961. Llewyn Davis (Oscar Isaac, in a breakout acting role, who is a good singer and guitar player, too) strums his guitar and sings the old folk song “Hang Me, Oh Hang Me.” It is about a man who is sentenced to death, but because Davis sings it, the words take on significance as they relate to his character. The words “Poor boy” repeat often and it talks about traveling “around this world.” It mirrors Davis’s self-pitying concerning his failures and his journey to find the right place for him. But he is never satisfied, so he keeps wandering. The song’s subject has resigned himself to death, an escape from a cruel world, but even that does not give him solace because he can’t abide the thought of being stagnant in the grave for so long. So, he can’t rest in peace, which seems to be Davis’s destiny. After the applause he says they must have heard the song before, and adds “If it was never new, and it never gets old, then it’s a folk song.” That line sums up Davis’s outlook, which is that the classic songs are timeless, but it also doesn’t leave room for invention.

We find out from a short conversation between Davis and the club owner, Pappi (Max Casella) that Davis had a partner, Mike, which we later discover committed suicide. Pappi tells him there is a “friend” outside asking for him. The man, mostly in the shadows, beats Davis up for heckling his wife during her performance. Davis is a smart-ass even as he is hit by the man, which shows his self-destructive tendencies. It also hints at his elitist attitude about folk music which leads to his scornful behavior toward others who do not meet Davis’s standards. The title of the film sounds like a journalistic expose, but it also suggests that Davis lives “inside” himself, with no real connection with others.

Before he leaves the apartment, Davis plays a track from an album entitled “If We Had Wings,” which he made with Mike which shows aspirations, a desire to reach elevated goals, that, in the duo’s case, weren’t achieved (a possible reference to the Greek myth about Icarus?). There is a shot of the cat that belongs to Mitch (Ethan Phillips) and Lillian Gorfein (Robin Bartlett). Davis has slept at their apartment. We find out much later that the cat’s name is Ulysses, so we have the connection to Homer’s epic (which the Coens also reference as their source for O Brother, Where Art Thou, another mock epic tale). The cat jumps onto Davis and stares at him, and in a way, they are symbolically the same in this story. Ulysses gets locked out of the apartment after he escapes when Davis leaves and the door locks behind them. Like the Greek hero, they are both travelers, trying to find their homes. In fact when Davis leaves a message for Mitch, he says “Llewyn has the cat,” but the woman on the other end of the phone call believes he said, “Llewyn is the cat.” Davis even looks furry, with shaggy hair, beard and mustache. The Coens have said that dogs want to please others, while cats mainly want to please themselves (a generalization with exceptions, since I had a loving cat as a companion), but their statement solidifies Davis as a loner.

Davis finds the cat and takes Ulysses with him to the apartment of Jim (Justin Timberlake) and Jean (Carey Mulligan). (“Jim and Jean” were the names of an actual folk music duo). They are not home, but Davis knows the super, Nunzio (Ricardo Cordero), who lets him enter their apartment through a fire escape window. So Davis enters with, and like, a cat, climbing into the place. He visits old Mel (Jerry Grayson), his manager, and Mel’s assistant, old Ginny (Sylvia Kauders). It figures that they are elderly, because Davis gravitates toward what is old as he lives in the musical past. He says he didn’t get an advance on his solo album, and needs some royalties, since he has no place to live and doesn't even have a winter coat. He wasn’t successful as a duo with Mike, and he isn’t selling any albums on his own. Mel offers his coat, which Davis rightly guesses is just a “bluff” offer, but when he tries to take the coat, Mel reluctantly offers him forty dollars, which shows how these people are on the fringes of earning a living.

Davis goes back to the apartment where an upset Jean questions him about the cat and is not thrilled with his wanting to stay there for the night. Troy Nelson (Stark Sands) is also there. He is wearing an Army outfit but is staying that night at Jean’s place because he is doing a gig at the Gaslight (he is modeled after folk singer Tom Paxton). His speech is very deliberate, as he pronounces each word distinctly. He is also very accommodating and nice (which is the opposite of Davis), saying that he knows of Davis’s music and has heard good things about him, which Davis rightly doubts. Jean hands Davis a slip of paper that informs him that she is pregnant. They are not the best at communicating orally.

As Troy performs at the club, Jim joins Davis and kisses Jean, showing that he has replaced Davis as her lover. Davis asks Jim what he thinks of Troy, and Jim says he is a wonderful artist. Davis is unconvinced and offers the question, “Does he have a higher purpose?” implying Troy needs to have those “wings,” noted in his album with Mike, to soar as an artist. Davis asks Jim to loan him some money for an abortion because he impregnated another woman (apparently the cat-like Davis may be getting women pregnant as he jumps from one place to another). Davis doesn’t want Jean to know, but Jim says that he can’t get the money without her knowing about it. Davis’s selfish nature uses women for his gratification and then can’t meet his responsibilities as a parent or lover, and has the audacity to ask for abortion money for another woman from the man whose partner he may also have impregnated. 

Davis’s narcissism assumes that Troy is asking him to perform at the end of his solo set, but it is the duo of Jim and Jean he invites to come up on stage. The three of them sing “Five Hundred Miles,” which talks about being far “away from home,” and the audience joins in with the chorus, surprising Davis. It’s as if they are all commenting on Davis’s state of living in temporal and physical exile. In fact Jean looks right at Davis who realizes that the song seems to say that he can’t return to what was between them. But, the crowd singing along also shows people connecting with the performers, something Davis has not been able to establish. 

The next morning Troy is up early, in his Army fatigues, eating cereal. Davis had been relegated to sleeping on the floor, representative of his station in life. Davis asks Troy sarcastically if he is next going to “plug” himself in, like a robot, and follow the commands of his superiors. But Troy is not interested in being a “killing machine,” which is what Davis stereotypes him to be. Troy says he doesn’t even like war toys, and only admires the discipline of the Army. He also has no interest in making a career out of the military. Troy surprises Davis by saying that when his hitch is over the record producer Bud Grossman is interested in representing him, who he describes as a “wonderful” man who is “supportive.” From Davis’s perspective, which is the one we are placed in, people do seem a bit lame in their comments and indiscriminate in their praise. Davis is also envious because he had Mel send his latest recording to Grossman and there hasn’t been any response.

Davis is a careless person who makes mistakes and then tries to clean up his messes without much success. Here he opens the apartment window and allows Ulysses to escape. He runs after him but the cat is gone, which metaphorically means that Davis is also lost in trying to find direction in his life. On a walk with Jean she cements this view of Davis when she angrily says, “everything turns to shit,” that he touches, “like King Midas’s idiot brother.” She is not sure who the father of her child would be, so she has decided to get an abortion because she does not want to have Davis’s baby, and only wants one with Jim. She makes Davis promise to arrange and pay for the procedure. She says he should do all women a favor and wrap himself in condoms and duct tape. He does make a point when he says, “it takes two to tango,” but she is not willing to take any responsibility here. He wants her to leave her window open in case the cat comes back, which she says makes little sense since Ulysses hasn’t lived at her place. Davis says he really feels badly about losing the cat, and she indicates the misalignment of his priorities when she says, “That's what you feel bad about?”

Davis has to keep moving on as he is not welcome anywhere. Now he goes to his sister, Joy (Jeanine Serralles). He selfishly asks about money from the sale of his parents’ home which is meant for them, not him. She suggests that he could rejoin the Merchant Marines, which to him is only “existing.” Joy is upset that he lumps his relatives’ lives in the “just existing” category, which means they are inferior to him. (As to being in the Merchant Marines, being “at sea” usually means someone is lost, and living on a ship is just another way of wandering in the absence of a fixed home in which to reside). He demonstrates his bitterness about his lack of success when he sarcastically says he can’t hang around because the Ed Sullivan Show wants him back for rehearsals and a “champagne reception.” Even though he relishes the classic songs of the past, Davis does not want the box of stuff Joy retrieved from their childhood home. He says that his early recording of a song should not be exposed because it would ruin his “mystique” as a folk artist. He seems to still have aspirations about his career, even though it seems to be dead in the water.

Davis lies to the kind Mitch, saying the cat is at Jim and Jean’s place and he’ll bring it back. Mitch says that Jim has a recording gig for him. Davis goes to the studio and Jim introduces him to Al Cody (Adam Driver in an early role). They are to be the John Glenn Singers, doing a novelty song, “Please, Mr. Kennedy,” about being sent into outer space. It is a silly, commercially oriented recording, well below Davis’s standards, and he is taken aback that Jim wrote this bit of fluff. But Davis needs the cash. The song humorously protests being forced to “blast - off” in a spaceship, but even here we have the theme of traveling or escaping. Davis singing the words gives voice to his plight of being condemned to constantly wander.

The homeless Davis receives his mail at Mel’s, but nobody is sending him any, as Ginny tells him, emphasizing his alienation. Mel and she were cleaning out stuff, and Ginny gives Davis a box filled with copies of his album with Mike. Davis carries it around with him, like an anchor weighing him down to his past failures. He now moves to another couch to sleep on, which is at Cody’s place (or as Jean asks later, “Who won the lottery tonight?”). He finds a similar box at the apartment, only it contains Cody’s album. It appears that less than successful artists have numerous copies of unsold works. 

Jean brings him the small amount of stuff he left at her place. It’s as if everyone he has been associated with is getting rid of his belongings as they attempt to evict him from their lives. She asks him if he even thinks about the future, which is so difficult for him to deal with personally that he asks if she means “flying cars? Hotels on the moon?” He is elitist when he says it’s “careerist,” and it’s “square,” (uncool), and “a little sad” to try to use music as a “blueprint” to plan the future. She tells him “you don’t want to go anywhere. And that’s why all the same shit is gonna keep happening to you, because you want it to.” Her description nails his inability to move forward in his life, and it points to how his snobbish rejection of other artists makes him a masochist as he wallows in his self-imposed misery, which is more than “a little sad.” 

He runs off during their discussion because he sees a cat that looks like Ulysses, and he grabs the animal. He goes to Cody’s place with “Ulysses,” and Cody tells him that there are musicians who are going to Chicago and will give him a ride if he shares paying for gas. Davis doesn’t have any plans to leave New York, but then again, producer Bud Grossman is in Chicago. 

Davis finds out from the doctor (Steve Routman) that he doesn’t owe him any money for Jean’s abortion because another woman he had sex with, Diane, did not terminate her pregnancy. She never told him, and the doctor couldn’t reach Davis to give him a refund since Davis has no permanent address or phone. Davis did not consider that his actions may have consequences beyond his scope, and he has a child out there, and his only knowledge of the offspring is that he is about two years old.

Davis brings the cat to the Gorfeins’ place, and Mitch invites him to dinner. Marty Green (Alex Karpovsky) and Janet Fung (Helen Hong) are also there. There is some upper-class intellectual condescending turning of the tables here as Marty calls Davis “Mitch and Lillian’s folk song friend.” Joe Flom (Bradley Mott) is also among the guests. He is a classical keyboardist, who also teaches piano, which adds to the snobbish feel of the room. Feeling a sense of belittlement, Davis jokingly asks if they have heard of the piano teacher who taught him when he was young, but the overly serious Flom doesn’t get the joke. Lillian asks him to play a song, and Davis’s first response is an ungracious complaint that he’s not a “trained poodle.” But she says that she asked because “singing was a joyous expression of the soul.” But there doesn't seem to be much joy in anything that Davis does. He takes Mitch’s guitar and begins to perform “Five Hundred Miles,” which is a song he sang with Mike. The feelings of hurt surrounding the loss of his partner is evident as Davis becomes angry when Lillian starts to harmonize with him. He lashes out saying he sings for a living, not as part of some “parlor” entertainment. (Nayman points out the “tension between the Platonic idealism” of Lillian’s words about music and Davis’s “bottom-line rejoinder that its main function” is to pay the bills). Davis yells that he wouldn’t ask Mitch to present a history lecture if Davis invited him to dinner (which of course Davis never does, not having money or a place to serve the meal). The upset Lillian runs out, but returns, saying the cat he brought to them isn’t Ulysses. It’s not even a male. She screams at Davis, “Where’s it’s scrotum?” Since the cat has been identified with Davis, the film is metaphorically accusing Davis of acting like a psychologically emasculated man, despite being able to get women pregnant physically.

Davis takes the symbolically castrated feline version of Ulysses with him, and hits the road again when he rides with the two men that Cody mentioned to Chicago. One is the almost wordless young Johnny Five (Garrett Hedlund), Cody’s friend, and the other is the overly talkative musician Roland Turner (John Goodman), looking like he is one of the Walking Dead, needing two canes to navigate. Turner can out-sarcasm Davis. He is pompous and condescending to the extreme (a look at where Davis is headed?). Davis tells Turner that the name Llewyn is Welsh, and Turner says that he once had Welsh Rarebit that made him severely ill, and wondered if everything from Wales has the same effect. Turner asks about the cat, and Davis says it isn’t his, he just didn’t know what to do with it. Turner savagely comments “did you bring your dick with you, too.” It is a funny line, but also echoes the inference of Davis’s impotence as a worthy man. 

Davis plays his guitar and sings in the car. Turner is asleep in the back and Johnny looks like he just wants Davis to shut up. So these two are the only captive audience he has at the moment, which isn’t saying much. While Davis drives, Turner talks about how the jazz he plays is so much more sophisticated than folk music. When he finds out that Davis’s partner, Mike, killed himself by jumping off of the George Washington Bridge, Turner is nasty about the kind of music they played as he says he can’t blame him for killing himself if he had to sing “Jimmy Crack Corn” every night. Davis can’t take the abuse any longer and asks if one of the canes will go all the way up Turner’s “ass,’ or will some of it stick out. Turner just spouts harmless threats about how badly he could hurt Davis if he wanted to. Davis asks for a cigarette from Johnny, who says he’s out, but then lights one up along the way. What a joy ride. 

When Johnny finally does talk a little, he recites enigmatic poetry and comments about a play he was in getting closed by the police. We feel some sympathy for him because he’s another damaged, failed artist. In a bathroom at a rest stop, Davis reads some graffiti that asks the pertinent question, not only for him, but for all of us, “What are you doing?” Davis doesn’t look like he has a clue, but then again, the movie may be asking, who does? In another stall, Turner overdoses on heroin, but Johnny says he’ll be okay, which doesn’t sound reassuring. The two men load Turner in the car and drive off. 

They snooze in the car, but a cop stops and says they can’t sleep on the side of the road. Johnny is belligerent and resists the policeman when he asks him to step out of the car. The cop handcuffs Johnny and drives him away. Davis does what he has done in the past. He leaves. Turner is passed out in the back of the car and most likely needs medical attention. Davis looks at the cat who stares back at him, as if wondering if Davis will take her along. He selfishly closes the door on the animal, and in a way slams it shut on himself in terms of a chance at redemption. 

Davis continues his odyssey alone, which fits his antisocial personality, to Chicago and the Gate of Horn theater to find Bud Grossman (F. Murray Abraham). The character is based on Albert Grossman, who helped folk singers become popular. For the purposes of the movie the name Grossman fits in well since it suggests how much money he can “gross” from the music of others. Nayman points out that the name of his club, which is what the real venue was actually called, appropriately fits in with the movie, since it refers to Homer’s The Odyssey. In that epic poem, there were two gates to pass through, one of ivory and one of polished horn. It was a test, and those that were able to pass through the Gate of Horn successfully had something “true” to give to others. 

Grossman says he never received a copy of Davis’s album, which is entitled Inside Llewyn Davis, which suggests revealing the man’s inner soul in songs. We have come to learn, however, that it mirrors the protagonist’s preoccupation with himself and his pursuit of a “higher purpose” that he noted earlier. Grossman asks him to play a song from “inside” him. Typically, Davis plays an old standard, “The Death of Queen Jane.” It is a sad and moving tale of a royal death during childbirth, and is personal, as Nayman points out, since it may suggest that Davis is thinking about the living child and the aborted ones he will never see. But it may also suggest Davis will die before he sees his “children,” that is, his rendition of songs, thrive. Grossman’s cold, capitalistic response is, “I don’t see a lot of money here.” Davis mentions Troy Nelson, and Grossman says he’s good because he connects with people, a quality we know Davis does not possess. Grossman suggests that if Davis stays out of the sun and looks more pale and trims his beard to a goatee, he may fit in with a trio that features two men and a woman, because Davis is not a front man (this could be a reference to the folk legends Peter, Paul, and Mary). Grossman asks if Davis is good with harmonizing. He admits that he once had a partner, and Grossman says he should get back together with him. Of course that is a past that can’t be brought back to the present, which sums up Davis’s life, along with the fact that harmonizing means bonding with another, which Davis has failed to do. 

Davis is on his own once more, hitchhiking in the howling cold of an unforgiving winter. He gets a ride with a young man (Jason Shelton) who he shares the driving with. Davis sees a sign for Akron, Ohio, which is where his son now lives with his mother, Diane. Davis looks like he may stop, but, again, does not make the effort to reach out to another, even if it’s his one child. As it snows, the thumping of the wipers sounds like loud heart beats, menacingly ticking out Davis’s life. It’s dark and the road seems as if it is heading nowhere, also reflecting Davis’s world. A cat that looks like Ulysses crosses the road in front of the car, and Davis slams on the brakes. He sees some blood on the front bumper, and catches a glimpse of a cat behind him limping off the road. He does not try to help the animal. Is it symbolic of his own selfishness which can lead to self-destructiveness? 

Davis decides to give up on his music career and escape back into the Merchant Marines. He visits his father, Hugh (Stan Carp) in a nursing home, and the man seems almost unaware of his son’s presence. As before, there is no appearance of a connection being made. Davis tells him he is shipping out because he wants “to try something new. I mean something old.” These words illustrate his inability to move forward. He sings “The Shoals of Herring,” a lovely song about simple fishermen, which his dad used to like. But, the scene is similar to the one where Davis auditioned for Grossman. It looks as if he has touched his father emotionally by the look on the old man’s face. Instead, we learn he was defecating in his pants. Nayman says the responses of Grossman and the father are “figurative blows to Llewyn’s ego.” 

Davis, like many of the Coens’ characters, suffers existential angst, questioning the point of existence. As Kent Jones says in his essay, “The Sound of Music,” Davis is trying to figure out where he fits in. Jones says that because Mike killed himself, Davis is asking since, “I was once one of two, am I now a half or a whole?” When he returns to his sister’s place, he voices his frustration that what life has to offer in the end is the humiliation that his father now experiences, helplessly soiling himself. 

Davis needs his sailing licenses to ship out, but he again was being irresponsible as he did not want the box that Joy offered him that contained his stuff, including his record albums and the license, which she threw away. Jean allows him to dump his other belongings at her apartment so he doesn’t have to lug them around. She says that he can play a gig at the Gaslight Cafe and make a little cash. He says he is done with performing, but he shows some gratitude for a change, thanking her for trying to help him. He then says he loves her, which is a big gesture on his part, but she isn’t buying it, given who he is, and says, “Come on.” 

He doesn’t have the cash to apply for new licenses. So he decides to play the Gaslight for the money. He goes to the club the night before his gig. There is an Irish quartet singing, and when the owner, Pappi, asks if he likes them, Davis is dismissive as usual, saying he likes their “sweaters.” The crude Pappi isn’t really a lover of folk music as an art form, and wonders if it will pay the rent much longer. He says the audience comes to see Jim and Jean because they want to have sex with them. He then admits that he had sex with Jean, and almost brags that he coerces young female performers to have sex with him if they want to perform at the club. The next act is an older woman named Elizabeth Hobby (Nancy Blake) who actually represents the authenticity that Davis admires. But Davis is drunk and angry at Pappi’s confession, and he ironically mercilessly heckles the genuine Elizabeth. He is thrown out, saying how he hates folk music, which is like admitting he hates himself for striving for that purity he seeks that has become a daunting quest.

The feeling of repetition is evident in Davis’s life as he calls Mitch to stay at the Gorfeins’ place once more for a couple of nights. Mitch again welcomes Davis in, saying his wife is making something to eat, as he did before, and there are dinner guests, as usual. And, Davis is identified, as before, as the folksinger friend. There is talk about the goofy song, “Please, Mr. Kennedy” becoming a hit, but Davis’s artistic dismissal of the song and his need for cash because he is not commercially viable, caused him to take upfront money in lieu of royalties. Another self-imposed missed opportunity. Both Mitch and his wife, Lillian, are forgiving of Davis’s prior nasty outburst, understanding about the loss of Mike. The cat appears, and they tell him that he returned home. The feline Ulysses at least found his way home, as did Homer’s hero. The next morning duplicates the earlier one with Ulysses waking up Davis by sitting on his chest. This time when Davis leaves he makes sure that the cat does not escape. He is at least able to keep Ulysses, if not himself, from straying from the place where he belongs. (To drive home the theme of trying to return home, Davis walks by a movie theater that has the poster for The Incredible Journey, a movie about animals trying to get back home).

What Jean said earlier about “the same shit is gonna keep happening” to Davis comes true in an almost surrealistic manner. Davis is back at the Gaslight Cafe, singing “Hang Me, Oh Hang Me,” as he did at the beginning of the movie. He even says the same line about folk songs being old but timeless. He then performs the song “If I Had Wings” which was the title track of his album with Mike. It contains the line “fare thee well” in it, like other old folk songs during the film. But he must do it solo now, which adds a raw, sad quality to it, stressing his isolation and unrealized lofty dream of gaining success as a folksinger. 

As with the Gorfeins, Pappi is forgiving of Davis’s drunken heckling of the night before. He says Davis has a friend outside asking for him. Deja vu, right? But this time, before he goes into the alley, a new folksinger is on stage. We hear Bob Dylan using the “fare thee well” line but incorporating it into the new song, “Farewell.” Unlike Davis, Dylan was able to use the old form of the folk song and create something totally new, showing the ability to move beyond the past into the here and now and pave the way on the road to the future.

Behind the club is yet another man in the shadows who is the husband of the woman Davis verbally assaulted the prior night. The exchange is the same as Davis is again sarcastic and he suffers a beating as before. The man says he and his wife are getting out of New York. Nayman notes that when the husband drives off in a cab the man is able to do what Davis can’t, which is to actually go away and start over. The last line of the film which Davis utters is “Au revoir,” which means goodbye, but also “until we meet again.” For Davis, his vicious cycle will keep repeating itself. But the Coens are more like Dylan (who came from Minnesota and is Jewish, like the Coens), as they explore an old place and time, and genre, and transform those elements to fit into their own, new vision. 

The next film is Wild Strawberries.