"Drunk Village Folk Song" is a very poetic name.

But in fact, this is a derivative interpretation of Chinese translation. The original English name of this movie is "About Levitrane-Davis". As the Coen brothers said, the title comes from an album by Dave Van Punk.

Compared to the original English name, Lan Li prefers Chinese translations, with a sense of disappointment and casualness of the wanderer.

The story of the movie takes place in New York in the 1960s. The protagonist is Levien Davis. He is an unknown folk singer. He is a difficult life, homeless, and even has no fixed job. He has to rely on the help of his friends every night to settle down. Although he is in a dilemma, the stubborn Levien refuses to compromise in order to meet the public's preferences, which makes his life even more difficult. The dream path of chasing folk songs will never end.

After the official release of this film directed by the Coen brothers, it received completely different feedback.

Film critics ushered in a craze for praise, not only receiving 93 points from the media comprehensive review, but also won the titles of the Best Movie of the Year in 2013 by three authoritative professional media, including "Movie Review", "New York Times", and "Voice of the Village", and frequently appeared on the top ten annual lists of other professional magazines.

The audience generally do not buy it. They think this movie is difficult to say. Not only is it not as good as classic masterpieces such as "From the Bloody" and "Nowhere to Belong to Old" but it is several levels different from the previous work of the Coen Brothers, "The Earth Thunder", and the performance is mediocre from box office to reputation. Even the score of imdb is only 7.5 points.

Actually, this is not difficult to understand.

"Drunk Village Folk Song" is not a typical American movie, but more like a European movie. The work does not tell a complete story: there is no cause, no result, and even no plot advancement. Instead, it tells a state, a wave and an era in a cycle of reincarnation.

The whole movie just intercepts a clip of Levien's life, telling the trivial matters he experienced in four or five days, presenting his current situation, and that's all.

The beginning and the end are almost the same picture, connected by Levien's live performance in a small bar, the lines and plot are almost the same, without much change, just a slight change in the angle of the camera; the story has no beginning and end, the character has no growth and enlightenment, and even the core idea has not been sublimated and refined, vividly interpreting the mystery of "shooting means not shooting".

More importantly, Levien is a frustrated person. This is not an inspirational story or a dreamer, but a loser who is still a loser after going around in circles. At the beginning of the story, there is no hope; at the end, it is still the same.

In Europe, such films are very common, telling a state of life, reflecting the general environment of society, leaving the space for philosophical thinking to the audience, and slowly savoring it; but in the United States, such artistic films are high and low, and it is really difficult to win the audience's echo. The difference in artistic heritage and connotation on the two lands can be seen from this.

Later Oscars also proved this. The Coen brothers, who were nominated for the best film three times in four years with the help of "Old Nowhere to Belong", "Serious Man" and "The Earth Thunder", have become the darling of the academy; "Drunk Village Folk" has only received two nominations for Best Photography and Best Sound Effect, and have not even nominated for Best Original Soundtrack and Best Original Song, which has been completely neglected.

Of course, objectively speaking, compared to the profound social reality reflected by the other works of the Coen Brothers, this work does seem too pediatric; but personally, this is his favorite Coen Brothers.

Greenwich Village in the 1960s has now become a legendary history. Countless music fans talked about it, discussing every move that happened here back then, pushing the progress of history and laying a footnote to history; but in that year, it was a arduous journey of a whole generation looking for themselves, exploring themselves, and firming themselves. There was no glamor, no dream bubbles, everything was cold and gloomy.

Under the call of the wave of the entire era, countless people have joined the torrent of folk songs. As Ethan said just now, "It doesn't matter who you are. What's important is that you are a part of this folk songs"; but the problem is that there may be only one successful person among a million people, and all the rest are struggling on the poverty line of life, unable to see the future or hope.

Everyone desires to be Bob Dylan, but Bob Dylan has only one.

Therefore, everyone faces choice, persistence, change, or give up? This is the case now, and it was the same before. Time flies, and the contradiction between dreams and reality has never changed.

In the story of "Drunk Country Folk", several characters appear, such as Jim, Justin Timberlake, Jane, Carrey Mulligan, and Levien, played by Oscar Isaac.

The three of them are folk singers, friends with each other, and are also small characters who are floating and ups and downs in the wave of the times in Greenwich Village.

Jim is a kind-hearted man. After pursuing his dreams in vain, he chose to compromise and began to sing some clichéd commercial songs, and began to write some saliva songs in accordance with the trend of society. This is not what the dream originally looked like, but it allowed him to gain a firm foothold in society and have a relatively stable life.

Jane is a woman who grew up under hippie culture. She has a relatively open attitude towards "sex" and has no burden; and music is just an interest for her. When the interest cannot maintain her life, she makes her own choice to be with Jim, which gradually stabilizes her life.

Levien is the only stubborn guy.

Jim chose to change, Jane chose to give up, and Levien chose to persist. Different choices guided their destiny towards different paths.

In these three characters, what is hidden is the reflection of the Coen brothers on dreams, art, and even the entire industry and the entire era; among these three characters, the Coen brothers chose Levien as the protagonist, and all their attention focused on this persevering loser. In the form of a circular structure, they present a state of being trapped between dreams and reality, sad and lost.

This state is something that the audience cannot understand and understand, but is exactly what the Coen brothers want to express and present.

One is that the dreamer is trapped in an inexplicable lonely place where he cannot move forward or retreat. He is like being exiled, living alone and confused. They cannot see the future, but are unwilling to give up. With a passion deep in their hearts, they are persistent and foolishly rushing in this lonely place, shaking their heads and bleeding.

The second is that in the era of innocence, those talented and young and impulsive artists are now gradually submerged in the torrent of the era of interests first, entertainment until death, lost themselves and silently gave up their favorite careers; the Greenwich Village, where newcomers emerged and art-rich, gradually submerged in Manhattan's skyscrapers and bustle.

For most viewers, this seems to be a work that is unnecessary to shoot. No one cares about the stories of losers, no one remembers the years of the folk song era, no one cares about the struggles of dreamers, and the state that the Coen brothers struggle to capture has become superficial and exaggerated in the fast food culture and the Internet era. No one cares about or understands it.

But for Renley, this is not the case.

Levien Davis, who is the "Drunk Country Song", is like the old Frank in the nameless bar.

Next to the cemetery where Heather Cross was sleeping, in the nameless bar, the old Frank who whispered "Cleopatra", the old Frank who enjoyed even the free performance, the old Frank who gave up his dream under the pressure of reality but persisted in his own way.

From any perspective of social reality, Frank, like Levien, is a loser, a complete loser, and may even become the object of ridicule and ridicule of them, or may become the negative teaching materials for parents to educate their children; but when they are late at night and are alone, the flame of dreams in their hearts is still burning, but illuminating their lives.

This is a story about persistence about dreams and life, it is a story about George Sland and Heather Cross, and it is a story about Chu Jiashu and Lanli Hall.

This was the case when I was trapped on a hospital bed in my last life; this was the case when I came to New York alone to pursue the actor's dream; this was the case when the album "Don Quixote" was created and produced; this was the case when Heather Cross stopped before the threshold for the dream to be realized.

On the road of dreams, giving up is not difficult. Everyone can choose to give up. Just let go of your hands, and your dreams will fly quickly into the sky like a hydrogen balloon and disappear in a blink of an eye. It is difficult to change, but after the struggle of compromise and bowing your head, everything will become natural and then comfort yourself. This is true for most people in society.

It is always easy to choose the Sunshine Avenue, choose the mainstream of society, and choose to go with the flow. It is always easy to hide in the vast sea of ​​people, without thinking, no struggle, and no struggle. It is enough to just follow the context of predecessors and waves, blindly move in the present. Under the huge social machine, everyone gradually gets rid of their edges and turns into a monotonous appearance.

Choosing to stick to yourself, choosing to pursue freedom, and choosing to maintain edges and corners requires courage and perseverance. Because they have no reference object, they must explore and embark on their own and walk into a path that belongs to them, a unique path.

In the story of "Drunk Country Folk Song", in Levien Davis, Renli can see his own shadow and his own story.
Chapter completed!