Hes a lost soul with some hair going on.
Llewyn Davis (played by Oscar Isaac) has something that Fink lacks and that is a pet.
Said pet is a cat and said cats name is Ulysses.
Its common knowledge that a little pussy makes everything better.
Unfortunately, Im not convinced that feline friends are much consolation at all.
Oh, and Justin Timberlake with a beard and a sweater.
Misery loves knitwear and facial hair and J.T.
is bringing itchy back.
Enter Ulysses a reference to the Greek myth adapted by the Coens asO Brother, Where Art Thou?
as an appealing diversion from dreadfulness.
The bewhiskered breakout star of Inside Llewyn Davis is an instant crowd-pleaser whom audiences can adore.
A lot of people really like cats.
This is where I find myself slightly out of step with popular pet opinion.
Im not overly enamoured by kitties.
Cats are definitely lower down the league tables if I had to rank them against other animals.
I go ape for monkeys.
I go hog wild for pigs.
I bug out for creepy crawly insects.
I also love spiders but they havent inspired an idiom to indicate tremendous enthusiasm.
I eightleggedfreak-out for spiders.
I like my animals wild.
As I say, I dont hate them and dont want to wish them any ill will.
They dont make much sense to me.
There are more stimulating ways to procrastinate.
There are more stimulating things that you could do with cats and for cats.
In conclusion, I can clearly see that human beings are turning me against cats.
Nevertheless, theres hope because I believe that art can reignite lost affections and misplaced compassionate feeling.
(Yes, Im going to eschew insightful, intellectual discussion on important topics and instead look at cats.
This is, apparently, what the internet is for.)
As I said, theyre commonplace features and there no pussycat-packed equivalent of the Internet Movie Firearms Database either.
While Im at it, neither doesFaster, Pussycat!
It doesnt necessarily follow that little kitties cant be deadly though.
From my perspective, cult Asian cinema does indeed appear to have the heppest hero hep cats.
Moving to English-language cinema, Jonesy ofAlienseries is the undisputed king kitty of both the sci-fi and horror genres.
You canread James last column here.
