Film: The Counselor, 2013, Directed by Ridley Scott

Cormac McCarthy, the author of the screenplay, is a graphomaniac. The proof is in works like "All the Pretty Horses", "The Road" and finally - this film which helps highlight all the symptoms of the condition. Even a skilled director like Ridley Scott could not pull out a cogent 'story' not to mention some sense out of this pretentious textual mess. What do you think of this piece of wisdom: "When it comes to grief, the normal rules of wealth do not apply. Because grief transcends value. A man would give entire nations to lift grief off his heart and yet, you cannot buy anything with grief, because grief is worthless. What the ...?!!! What does this mean? Nothing. It's a strаin of the mind of a pseudo-philosopher and pseudo-writer who is desperately trying to be original...I should rest my case only after this quote but can't help mentioning the drug lord citing the poet Antonio Machado. Not that it can't be done, but Mr. McCarthy does it in a dumb way.

"No Country for Old Man" was a good movie only thanks to the Coen brothers who wrote the screenplay.

Film: Inside Llewyn Davis. Coen Brothers

A very good film by the Coens and co-produced by Scott Rudin (who I don't think has a bad film to his credit).

Loved the opening shot - a man with a guitar in the spotlight, small stage, people smoking in the audience...A nostalgic statement for the art scene of the 60s...

Oscar Isaac's understated performance (and this coming from a theater actor!) is one of the alluring features of this film. His slightly retro look, expressive presence, facial features that could be associated with opposing qualities, somewhere between sensitivity, integrity or depravity and decay -- definitely an actor with a future. Two great scenes - one, when he performs a very inspired song for a record producer who tells him "there is no money in this"; and the other, when he performs for his senile father. The camera (Bruno Delbonnel) in that latter scene is fascinating! This cinematographer is one heartbreaking story-teller.

Did Van Gogh know he was great even though he was not successful? How does an artist know if he is making great art or if he should just quit because he sucks. How does he know if he can't even get to an audience... And he can't get to an audience because there is always a "middle man." There is always someone who thinks he "knows" if "there is money in it" and who decides the fate of art. Someone - who owns the pub, the stage, the label, or the studio. And, of course, there is always someone hungry - literally and metaphysically, someone desperate to make art, desperate to get on that stage, unable to quit.

Thankfully, there are artists like the Coens who can afford to make films like "Inside Llewyn Davis".