Hang Me, Oh Hang me, and I'll be dead and gone
Hang Me, Oh Hang me, I'll be dead and gone..
it's actually quite a catchy start, especially when you hear the singer sing in a mournful voice:
Wouldn't mind the hangin…
but the laying in the grave so long
poor boy.. .I been all around this world The
translation is probably:
Hang me, oh, hang me, I will die, go;
hang me, oh, hang me, I will die, go;
don't care about being Hanging, but lying in the grave for so long...
poor man... I've been wandering around like this.
A very sad ballad. This is a bar called "Gas Lamp" in Greenwich Village, New York in 1961, where many unknown folk singers sang. It was the eve of interest in the neo-folk movement in the 1960s, and these bars in the Village were the heart of the movement. So you expect that this soulful singer will surely become a master of folk songs that will influence a generation. Because Bob Dylan was not the one who sang in the various bars of the Village with this group of people at the time.
Yet the Coen brothers didn't give you such a biographical film about a hero's upbringing and suffering that culminates in success. Not only is "The Ballad of Drunken Township" not a story about a hero, it can even be said to be an "anti-hero" movie. It is precisely because of the two brothers' "anti-hero" position that this film becomes a good work that is different from other music biopics.
In fact, "Drunken Country Ballads" is not a good translation. The word "drunk" doesn't know where it came from. The protagonist can't be regarded as an alcoholic, and his attitude towards life is not the drunk state of the game world. The movie was originally titled Inside Llewyn Davis, which means "the heart of Ron Davis", and it was about the life of Llewyn Davis, a folk singer who wandered in New York's "village" in 1961 for about a week.
Llewyn Davis is not very popular. His partner died and he just started solo. He released an album called Inside Llewyn Davis, and he has not received a penny. He relied on singing in bars occasionally and recording a chorus as a partner to make it through the day. He lived a poor life where he didn't know where he was going to live every day.
Llewyn Davis has a bit of talent, but not what kind of people he is. The songs he sang were all old folk ballads. They were supposed to be desolate and tragic, but his voice and interpretation were too mellow and even sweet. Compared with Bob Dylan, who was also in the village at the same time, he was full of eccentric power. The sound texture and unique interpretation are too different.
But the most terrible thing is that a struggling artist like Llewyn Davis is always proud of his talents and has an inexplicable struggle between himself and the world. He is angry on the surface and fragile on the inside. On top of that, he was reluctant to commit to anything, from music to women. This person is actually a collection of negative energy.
Llewyn Davis isn't the kind of hero we don't see in real life but tire of in movies. He's not the unruly, brilliant musical genius we'd like to believe (who has been portrayed countless times in film history). Llewyn Davis is actually a weak-hearted and hapless man, just one of those ordinary self-proclaimed artists. He, is a mockery of the Coen brothers' concept of "hero".
The films of the Coen brothers only portray one kind of person: Loser. Beginning with the silly X gangsters in the famous "Icestorm", there are countless inexplicable losers in the Coen brothers' dark comedy films. These people often do absurd things involuntarily, and their fate is never in their own hands. Walking in the world seems to be just a puppet manipulated by fate. The Coen brothers never made it clear who was carrying those wires.
I'm sure the Coen brothers would scoff at the heroism of Hollywood movies. In their view, this world is not a "heroic" world, it is more of a bunch of fools, fools, vulgars, losers and unlucky people looking for trouble. But this time, compared to the nonsensical "scumbags" in the past movies, "Drunk Town Ballad" uses Llewyn Davis, a singer who is neither dumb nor stupid but has a tangled heart, to make a new interpretation of "anti-hero".
But in fact, this movie will be a very boring viewing experience for most people. Because the whole movie is Llewyn Davis's day-to-day chores, it's a mess. You just got to know someone who met the same fate at the beginning of the movie as it did at the end. That is to say, the film does not have a story that has a beginning and an end. It's like a documentary that randomly takes some boring life of a person, and then puts it together for you to ponder.
In fact, what I can feel is that in this "stuffiness", the directors portray a kind of living state of a person. If you are interested in this kind of person and this state, you will feel the power of the director.
So why be interested in the survival of an unsuccessful singer? In my case it is related to "folk". The entire film recreates the birthplace of new folk songs in the early 1960s, Greenwich Village, New York, like the cover of Bob Dylan's early album Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, which was recorded at the same time, and a lot about his life in the Village. Black and white photo. Many of those singers and stages were real people, such as "Jim and Jane" played by Justin Timberlake and Carey Mulligan, and there really was such a folk group at the time. (BTW, the performances of the two big-name supporting actors, especially the singing, are very professional, which makes people really admire them.)
Of course, when it comes to the origin of the folk movement, we can't help but mention Bob Dylan. The appearance of Bob Dylan in the movie is really Magic strokes: At the end of the film, the protagonist Llewyn Davis came on stage to sing two songs, and there was not much applause. He came off the stage and the boss chatted with him for a few words. At this time, a new singer was vaguely seen in the background and began to play the prelude to the next song. The boss said, "There's someone out there looking for you." Llewyn walked towards the door, when the voice of the singer on the stage came: it was Bob Dylan's original voice, singing the Farewell.
I believe everyone in the audience realizes, wow, Bob Dylan is on stage. But the movie did a really cool thing: it didn't give a scene to the folk legend on stage, but followed the protagonist to the alley outside the bar, where a man in a coat gave him a full beating. When he was beaten, Bob Dylan was singing Farewell in the background. When the man who was holding him walked away, Llewyn, who had collapsed on the ground, sat up and said two words to the man who had gone away: "Goodbye". The movie is over.
I love Cohen's twitching at the end of the film. What about Bob Dylan, it's nothing more than a background music for the characters. This, I believe, is the best portrayal of their "anti-hero" attitude.
PS I only recommend this movie to friends who like music, especially ballads. You must know that all the songs in the song, except for Bob Dylan at the end of the film, are recorded, and all the others are performed by the actors' real voices, and they are recorded at the same time, not mixing processing in the studio. The soundtrack album of this film is available on Baidu, and you can find it by searching for "Drunken Town Folk Ballad" in Baidu Music. Also recommended.
PS2: The lead actor Oscar Isaac played the leading role for the first time, but he performed very well. At the critical moment, he sang and played the piano quite well. Or the same sentence: How come there are so many good actors in America? One crop after another...
PS3: Such a movie actually made me come out with a flaw: the protagonist walks with his girlfriend and wears a beige coat. When he came to a chair, when the camera turned, he sat down on the chair, and his coat magically turned into a lattice! (As evidenced by the picture) No, such a low-level mistake. Can someone explain it?
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