"Inside Llewyn Davis" is a joyless meditation on some very meaningful music.

Rating: 1/10 (23 December 2015)

1960s folk music had a message and often expressed hope and sometimes even joy. It's too bad that "Inside Llewyn Davis" (R, 1:45), a movie about a fictional folk singer in the early 60s doesn't seem to understand that.
Oscar Isaac plays the title character, a singer with talent who can't quite catch a break. Even when he seems on the verge of something good happening to him, it either doesn't pan out or he blows it up. He keeps on trying to succeed, in spite of it all, but as an audience member, I was hard pressed to root for him. You see, Llewyn is completely self-absorbed and joyless. He floats from couch to couch in New York City, staying with friends until he wears out his welcome and has to move on to the next temporary bed, but rarely expresses gratitude. He even manages to alienate some of the few friends he has. He's also constantly trying to borrow money, insulting friends and family in the process.
You'd think that, as hard as he works and as much as he sacrifices for his art that he would have a passion for it, but none is apparent. He never seems to get any pleasure from performing his own music and even gets angry when he is asked to sing a song for friends. The only true friend he has is a cat that keeps popping up in the film, but Llewyn is ambivalent towards the animal, especially when it needs him the most. Things start looking up for Llewyn when he comes into a little cash, which he uses to pay for his share of the gas in a car pool going to Chicago, where he hopes to get a job, but the film doesn't offer a resolution to that part of the story. There doesn't seem to be resolution to much of anything in Llewyn's life, or in this movie.
"Inside Llewyn Davis" features some good covers of original 60s folk music and a bit of new music but that's about the only nice thing I can say about this movie. Oscar Isaac's performance is uninspired (although he does sing several of the songs in the soundtrack) and some great actors (including Carey Mulligan, Justin Timberlake, John Goodman and F. Murray Abraham) are wasted in this film. They're given little to do and don't seem to want to be there. How can a celebration of 60s folk music be so short on celebration? Joel and Ethan Coen, who, as with most of their movies, share writing and directing credits, made their similarly-themed "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?" somewhat entertaining, but seem to have had all their fun with that one. There sure isn't any on display in this depressing exercise. It seems to me that almost as bad as actually being Inside Llewyn Davis is being inside a theater showing "Inside Llewyn Davis".
To be fair, I should point out that some other moviegoers seemed to enjoy this movie very much, although I'm at a loss to understand why. Somehow, this film snagged Golden Globe nominations for Best Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical and Best Performance by an Actor – Comedy or Musical. I didn't realize that 2013 was such a slow movie year. The film also received a nomination for Best Original Song, but I agree with that one. The scene showing the recording of the whimsical ditty "Please Mr. Kennedy" and some of the other music is what's keeping me from giving this flick an "F". The most I can give this cinematic dud is a "D".