An anti-hero story, inspiring human compassion

Rating: 7/10 (23 February 2014)

It's a very slow movie, and slowness reflects the lethargy of an anti-hero, the folk singer Llewyn Davis who wanders along the roads of a music-living Greenwich Village, where it is difficult to come out, although you are a talented artist and are in love with what you sing. Davis is very vulnerable, probably beyond hope in this sort of Odyssey, his voyage is a no home-direction voyage, with no Penelope waiting for his return, but if his sluggish attitude may annoy, it also inspires human compassion, in this case for a man who probably believes in art, but understands that art is not enough, and cannot cope with this matter of fact. The real tragedy lies in the incapability to connect to others, and first to himself, he is both self-centred and stuck on a motionless existence of his own making, you get angry with him and would like to slap him, but in the end, you cannot hate him.
Isaac plays a difficult role with the due intensity and the right sensitivity, mainly when inspiring contrasting feelings, mainly that feeling of wanting to give up which makes him a universal character. The rest of the cast, although playing minor roles, help design the mood of a charming and yet contradictory musical era. And the ginger cat Ulysses (a significant name, indeed) is awesome and the scenes with Davis wandering in the Greenwich village with him in his hands and his guitar in tow are the ones I liked most.