Here are some blurbs from the great reviews coming out of the first Cannes screening of Inside Llewyn Davis.

The Hollywood Reporter

The Coen Brothers’ competition film starring Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan and Justin Timberlake presents an outstanding fictional take on the early 1960s folk music scene …

… But the work’s core and most brilliant filmmaking, as stunning and singular as anything in the Coens’ canon, is embodied in what initially feels like a tangent that, among other things, can be viewed as a deadpan satire on the whole “on the road” ethos of the period, right down to the casting of Dean Moriarty himself, Garrett Hedlund, as the mostly mute driver on a hitchhiking trip Llewyn makes to Chicago. With John Goodman’s sarcastic raconteur Roland Turner splayed across the back seat like a malignant combination of Henry VIII and Orson Welles in Touch of Evil, the trip proceeds into a surrealistic twilight zone. Although not decisive, the trip does present the artist with a defining moment the viewer is free to ignore or accept as the truth about what’s “inside” Llewyn Davis. FULL REVIEW

Indiewire

Critics of the Coens often fixate on their alleged disdain for their protagonists as they endure Job-like suffering with no end in sight. Llewyn’s plight provides no exception, but that his conundrum is more understandable because he’s trapped by his passion. After a private performance for one potential client, he’s told, “I don’t see a lot of money in this,” and has no rebuttal prepared. An ode to art for art’s sake, “Inside Llewyn Davis” is the most innocent movie of the Coens’ career, which in their case is a downright radical achievement. FULL REVIEW

Rope of Silicon

It’s been 13 years since Joel and Ethan Coen gave us the bluegrass energy of O Brother, Where Art Thou? and now they’ve jumped forward 30 years to 1961 and the folk music scene of Greenwich Village with Inside Llewyn Davis, a film so perfect it appears almost effortless…

And from the cold New York streets to the just-as-cold streets of Chicago, Llewyn hitches a ride with Garrett Hedlund (who grunts more than speaks and not very often at that) at the wheel and a passed out John Goodman in the back …

Hedlund, Goodman, Abraham and Adam Driver all add something special to the film as the Coens continue to not only cast the right people in the right roles, but give them something to do. FULL REVIEW

Screendaily

A very funny and moving look at a folk artist whose sizable talent always lags behind his personal failings and bad luck, writer-directors Joel and Ethan Coen’s Inside Llewyn Davis is a companion piece of sorts to A Serious Man, their 2009 comedy-drama in which a decent, ordinary man seemed to have the entire world conspiring against him. The filmmaking duo’s new movie features a protagonist far more flawed and self-defeating, but thanks to a sterling lead performance from Oscar Issac, the Coen brothers have once again delivered an impressively nuanced character study — one that has much to say about art, compromise and all the aspiring hopefuls who never got their moment in the sun. FULL REVIEW

Playlist

And the directors cast the rest of players wisely, with the aforementioned actors all very good (Mulligan is perfectly acidic and bitter) and even smaller parts for John Goodman, Garrett Hedlund (nearly dialogue free), Adam Driver (who was part of one of the biggest laughs at the Cannes screening) and Alex Karpovsky, aren’t just cast for cameo purposes, but really enliven what would otherwise be throwaway roles, creating a rich world for this movie to take place in, and for Llewyn to interact with …

Definitely a bit darker than people might expect, particularly in the latter stages, “Inside Llewyn Davis” celebrates those whose moment at fame will forever be a phantom. Llewyn Davis is endlessly striving, gets knocked down and picks himself up again, brushes off his rumpled clothes and gives it another go. He’ll make mistakes, he’ll fuck up, he’ll be down and out and perhaps even on top if ever so briefly. But when that light goes on, and you can connect even for four minutes on stage, in a club you’ve played hundreds of times, sometimes that’s enough. “Inside Llewyn Davis” isn’t about someone trying to make it big, but someone just trying to make it, and the Coens celebrate the hard road that can inspire great art. FULL REVIEW

And some of the tweets posted after the screening are behind the cut …

Read the rest of this entry…

From Deadline.com

‘World War Z’ Scribe Makes Directorial Debut With Garrett Hedlund

Inside Llewyn Davis‘ Garrett Hedlund is on board to play the lead in screenwriter Matthew Michael Carnahan’s directorial debut Violent Talent. The Wolf Of Wall Street’s Margot Robbie as well as RocknRolla’s Toby Kebbell and Four Lions’ Riz Ahmed will join Hedlund in the drama. Carnahan is directing Violent Talent from an original script he wrote. The film focuses on Eamon (Hedlund) as he and his two oldest friends Angel and Quan (Kebbell and Ahmed) try to build a criminal empire in a contemporary Chicago where he feels crime might be the most honest job around. Robbie’s character is known as Riley. Violent Talent will be produced by Tracy Falco through her Defender Entertainment Banner. Carnahan and Falco previously produced the Robert Redford-directed Lions For Lambs together. Carnahan wrote the script for the 2007 film. Nate Winslow of Defender will serve as an associate producer on Violent Talent. WME Global will represent the movie’s domestic distribution rights.

Before Violent Talent, TRON: Legacy and On The Road star Hedlund next will be seen in early December in the Coen Bros’ Inside Llewyn Davis as well as the indie Lullaby. Inside Llewyn Davis, which CBS Films picked up back in February, is also in competition at Cannes this year. Violent Talent director-scribe Carnahan co-authored the screen story and penned the adapted script for the upcoming World War Z with Brad Pitt. Carnahan also wrote the adaptation of Norwegian crime novelist Jo Nesbø’s The Snowman, which Martin Scorsese is producing. Carnahan is repped by WME and attorney Stuart Rosenthal of Bloom Hergott Diemer Rosenthal LaViolette Feldman Schenkman & Goodman. Actor-rapper Ahmed is repped by CAA and Kate Bryden of Gordon & French. Kebbell is repped by CAA and Samira Higham in the UK. The female lead in the Scorsese-directed Wolf Of Wall Street (out November 15), Robbie is repped by CAA and Management 360. Hedlund is repped by WME and Brillstein Entertainment Partners.

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Great comment on Deadline:

His scripts time after time are literally the most consistently amazing of any current writer i’ve read. I’m talking about the SCRIPTS not the films. Finally we will get to see what happens when his material is not muddled up by a director or studio before getting to the screen.

]

There is some new footage near the end.

Ahead of its Cannes debut next week, CBS Films has just released a new red band trailer for their Oscar hopeful “Inside Llewyn Davis,” written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. Typically movies get red band trailers to showcase extreme violence or lewd profanity found in comedies like “The Hangover” and “Bridesmaids.” In the case of “Inside Llewyn Davis,” you get to witness Carey Mulligan saying “asshole” and go on about condoms — hardly anything that’s NSFW.

The gorgeous-looking drama centers on an aspiring singer-songwriter (Oscar Isaac) who navigates the 1960s folk-music scene in New York City’s Greenwich Village. T Bone Burnett produced the film’s soundtrack, which includes music performed by, among others, Isaac, Marcus Mumford and Justin Timberlake.

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Coen Brothers’ ‘Inside Llewyn Davis’ Dated For Dec. 6

Comedy-drama in competition at Cannes

CBS Films has dated Joel and Ethan Coen’s comedy-drama “Inside Llewyn Davis” for limited domestic release Dec. 6, followed by an expansion on Dec. 20.

Oscar Isaac stars in the title role in the story of an aspiring folk musician in the 1960s in Greenwich Village. Carey Mulligan, John Goodman, Garrett Hedlund, F. Murray Abraham and Justin Timberlake also star.

“Inside Llewyn Davis” is screening in competition at Cannes.

The Coen brothers directed and produced along with Scott Rudin. T Bone Burnett produced the soundtrack which includes music performed by Isaac, Marcus Mumford and Timberlake.

Studio Canal is handling international distribution and foreign sales. CBS Films acquired U.S. rights in February.

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The emotional movie “Lullaby”

How do you face your peaceful death? I am not sure whether because the audience who was invited to the test screening of Lullaby was interested in the subject or just because of a free movie, but the test screening was fully booked. Although the subject is very serious, it describes a difficult situation comically. After the screening, the audience gave there approval of the message to the film with a long clap and tears.

Lullaby is directed Andrew Levitas, staring Garrett Hedlund and Jennifer Hudson.

There is still no trailer, no poster, no U.S release date, but the very emotional and touching movie will give you homework “Your rights at the end of life.”

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I’m a huge Star Wars fan and I love that Garrett’s name pops up a lot in articles/blogs about casting the new movies. Since news is slow, I thought I’d post one and a couple of polls – Laura

From GeekTyrant:

5 Actors We’d Like To See In Star Wars

2. Garrett Hedlund

Role: Bounty Hunter

Demeanor: Cocky And Arrogant…but later develops and redeems himself (that’s his wheelhouse)

Potential Quote: “You’re acting like I’m just going to find him sitting on a stump in Dagobah, just ‘Hey man! Lost track of time!”

You were expecting Joseph Gordon Levitt? Not today. Hedlund fits the Star Wars role for me more than the latter any day of the week. His type fits the Han Solo role pretty well, and if there was one guy I’d see stepping in for Harrison Ford, it’d be him. Hedlund would also make a solid love interest for who I’m crossing my fingers for as the ultimate choice for a central character in the series… [Jennifer Lawrence - ed]

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Chose 2 answers