The Times They Are a-Changin'

Rating: 9/10 (13 March 2014)

Beautiful story of poetic soul trapped in time before his time, an antiquated, band-lead world of the early 1960's music scene. Rich in Coen symbolism, Inside Llewyn Davis portrays an every talented man, unadjusted to society that doesn't appreciate his obsolete poetry, soon to become world wide trend for the next decade and a half. Nothing he tries seems to work and all his endeavors turn to dust.
But Llewyn fights on, led through stormy seas of his life by destiny that he desperately tries to hold on to, loosing a grip on it whenever he looses the cat, his mystery companion.He gets a beating from his bad luck, in the alley behind the Gaslight Cafe, posing as his "friend", after the performance where he takes a pity on himself singing "Hang Me, Oh Hang Me" from depth of his troubled mind. Every person he meets is another piece in the jigsaw of his redemption waiting to happen. As the cycle of his downfall makes a full circle, he is back where we found him, but something has changed. Slim silhouette with a slightly husky voice, takes the stage and opens a new era in popular music, making "never new", and "never old music", the voice of a generation. Llewyn says "Au revoir" to shadowy ugly figure of his bad luck, that speeds away from him, in a yellow cab. The Times They Are a-Changin' and his destiny has led him out of the tempest of life, that had kicked him around.
Certainly one of the best films in the Coen canon, Inside Llewyn Davis will always let you find a new layer on it. It will make you laugh it will give you hope, and the music is beautiful and moving, with unsurpassed performance of "Please Mr. Kennedy" shining through. Worth of repeated viewings.