New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Inside Llewyn Davis , the new film written and directed by Academy Award winners Joel and Ethan Coen and produced by Scott Rudin and Joel and Ethan Coen, opens in select US theaters this Friday, December 6. The film, which follows a week in the life of a young folk singer as he navigates the Greenwich Village folk scene of 1961, stars Oscar Isaac as Llewyn Davis, Carey Mulligan, John Goodman, Garrett Hedlund, and Justin Timberlake. The soundtrack , released on Nonesuch Records last month, features 12 new recordings, as well as a never-before-released recording of
Bob Dylan performing his song "Farewell."
A new, six-minute featurette on the music and making of Inside Llewyn Davis , including clips from the film and interviews with the Coen brothers, Isaac, Mulligan, Mumford, and Timberlake, premiered on Yahoo! Movies last week. Watch it here:
The New York Times's
Janet Maslin takes the occasion of the film's forthcoming release to recommend a number of ways to learn more about the time, place, and music depicted in the film.
"It's a safe bet that anyone who sees the film ... will want to know more about the folkie world that the Coens recreate so wittily and well," writes Maslin. "There are great ways to read, see and hear more about it." Not least the soundtrack itself.
"Inside Llewyn Davis has the best T Bone Burnett soundtrack since the Coens' O Brother, Where Art Thou? ," Maslin exclaims. "It features Mr. Isaac to fine advantage while also offering a cross section of the era's popular styles. There's a sparkling new version of [Tom] Paxton's song 'The Last Thing on My Mind'; a topical satire in the manner of the Chad Mitchell Trio; a rousing Irish number by Clancy Brothers types ...; and two versions of 'Green, Green Rocky Road,' Mr. Isaac's and [Dave] Van Ronk's."
New York magazine's film critic
David Edelstein calls Inside Llewyn Davis "transcendentally soundtracked." The New Yorker 's Anthony Lane reviews the film in the latest issue of the magazine, writing: "If you love the Coens, or follow folk music, or hold fast to this period of history and that patch of New York, then the film can hardly help striking a chord. Some of its joys are gleefully precise, like the quartet of white-sweatered harmonizing Irish crooners, or the novelty number 'Please Mr. Kennedy,' which Llewyn, Jim [Justin Timberlake], and Al Cody (Adam Driver) chant for Columbia Records."
Speaking of "Please Mr. Kennedy," you can watch an excerpt from the film featuring that scene, below, and read more about the origin and writing of the track:
To pick up a copy of the Inside Llewyn Davis soundtrack, head to the Nonesuch Store , where CD and vinyl orders include a download of the complete album at checkout. Both are now 35% off the standard retail price (about 20% off the everyday low prices listed on the site) as part of the current Nonesuch Store anniversary sale.
