Photo of the film Inside Llewyn Davis © RR
Films in the key of Coen
Music has always played a key role in the films of Joel and Ethan Coen, closely bound up with their work’s rootedness in American history. And nowhere is this truer than in their recent Inside Llewyn Davis (2013) – a film inspired by the life of singer Dave Van Ronk – which opens with a live performance by Oscar Isaac of the entire traditional number “Hang Me, oh Hang Me” at a New York folk club. The scene inspired us to embark on a musical journey through their filmography.
In 1984, the musical ambience of their first film Blood Simple was entrusted to New York composer Carter Burwell. As is so often the case with the Coen brothers, it was the beginning of a long-standing collaboration — Burwell, who is equally known for his work on the films of Spike Jonze has also been responsible for the majority of their film scores. From the Irish violins penetratingthe mists of the opening scene of Fargo, to Barton Fink, No Country for Old Men, Lady Killers, Burn After Reading and True Grit, their films have explored a range of musical genres, from Folk, Blues and Country to Gospel, as well as revisiting a number of standards artfully deployed to give the characters psychological depth. Witness the memorable dance scene featuring John Tururro as Jesus to the sounds of a cover of Hotel California by the Gypsy Kings in The Big Lebowski…
It was also onThe Big Lebowski in 1998 that the Coen brothers teamed up for the first time with musician and producer T-Bone Burnett (who besides his own albums has worked on those of Roy Orbison, Elvis Costello and Elton John). They called on him again two years later for the Bluegrass score of O’Brother and the burlesque recording of Dick Burnett’s “Man of Constant Sorrow” by George Clooney, John Turturro and Tim Blake Nelson, alias The Soggy Bottom Boys. Sales of the soundtrack romped to 10 million.
For Inside Llewyn Davis, with a musical ambience akin to that of O’Brother, the Coen Brothers opted to film the actor singing live in concert conditions. A dream scenario for T-Bone Burnett – once again in charge of the musical production – who said in an interview in Le Monde: “The stage is all I know and for the first time, on-stage conditions are captured here in a film that’s not a live concert. I can’t think of a more realistic film by musicians anywhere.”
